Help Me, Protect You
by Sparkling Draco
Summary: Edward has left Bella hurt and broken. When a man visits her and asks Bella to protect Hogwarts against Voldemort and to change her life altogether, Bella finds out she is a witch and that she needs to side with Vampires in order to save Hogwarts.
1. Love Drunk

Love Drunk.

The world stuck in black and white

You drove me crazy every time we touched

Now im so broken that i cant get up.

All the time i wasted on you

All the bullshit you put me through

Im checking into rehab 'cause everything that we had

Didnt mean a thing to you.

_*Flashback*_

_"I dont want you to come with me" Edward told me, his face unreadable and his topaz eyes frozen solid._

_"You...dont want..me?" I asked, refusing to believe what he had just said._

_"No" he said, and my whole world shattered before my eyes._

_*End Flashback*_

I was sitting on the couch watching television as i usually did now-a-days to pass the time so that my mind didnt wonder to the memories i was forbidden to remember. I was trying to focus very hard on the picture as my mind threatened to take over, and once again i was thrown back into another memory.

_"You're taking me to meet your family?" I asked in disbelief, i knew this was coming, i just didnt know it would come so quickly._

_"Sure, why not?" Edward said, amused by my obvious fright at meeting them._

_"But..I mean...What if they dont like me?" I said, beginning to freak out. Obviously Edward thought i was frightened for other reasons because his shock was the only emotion on his glorious face._

_"You're not scared that you'll be in a house full of vampires? But that you think they won't approve of you?" He said in astonishment._

I nearly jumped out of my seat when my memory was cut short by a loud popping sound and then a slight tap on the front door. I slowly made my way to the hallway, trying to calm myself down as i walked, I opened the door to see a strange old man on the porch.

He had long silver hair and a matching beard, he had a long travelling cloak on and was looking at me happily through half-moon specticles that were placed halfway down his crooked nose.

"Hi, can i help you?" I asked politely, but even to me i could tell my voice sounded dull and lifeless.

"Hello, my name is Albus Dumbledore, are you Isabella Swan?" Albus Dumbledore asked, smiling at me.

"Um, yes that's me. Im sorry, but do i know you?" I asked curious as to why this man was at my house and how he knew my name.

"Well, not really no, you see; i knew you a little bit when you were a child. I know your mother and father you see. Charlie and Renee are their names if i remember correctly." Mr Dumbledore said

"Yes thats them, but im afraid my father isnt here, and my mother doesn't live here anymore." I said, not bothering to try and cover up the pain in my voice that i now have constantly.

"I'm sorry to hear that but im not here to talk to your parents, im actually here to talk to you. May i come in? Or would you like to step out onto the porch so we can talk?" He said, looking at me patiently as i decided whether or not to invite a stranger into my home. After deciding it would be safer to stay on the porch i pulled the door closed behind me and went to lean on the railing next to the stairs. Albus Dumbledore followed me.

"What can i do for you Mr. Dumbledore?" I asked.

"Well Miss Swan, I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, i am the head master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, have you heard of it?" He said, and i couldn't help but just stare at him in shock.

_Did he just say Witchcraft and Wizardry? _I thought, finally after what seemed like an eternity, i composed my thoughts and looked up to see Professor Dumbledore still smiling patiently at me.

"No i havent"

"Oh, well thats okay, i wasn't really expecting you to have known about it. Do you know anything about the magical world?" As he said this my mind flashed to seven beautiful faces that used to be part of my life. But against my better judgement i remembered _him_ saying that they were mythical not magical. I shook my head and said

"No i don't"

"Okay well, im here to ask you for some assistance, Hogwarts is in danger and i am assured that you are the person who we need to help us." Professor Dumbledore explained.

"I..Wha...Excuse me?" I asked, confused _surely im dreaming or something_ i thought to myself.

"I see there is some explaining to do" ALbus Dumbledore started.

"You see there is such a dark wizard in the magical world that goes by the name of Lord Voldemort, he has killed many people, magical and non-magical, known as Muggles. There is only one person in history who is known to have survived the killing curse that Lord Voldemort is known to be his signature curse. The boy who lived is named Harry Potter. Have you heard of him?"

I shook my head and so Professor Dumbledore continued "Before Harry was born, a prophecy was made to say that Harry was the chosen one, when the time would come Harry would have to try and kill Lord Voldemort. And so, Lord Voldemort found out about the prophecy and set out to kill Harry when he was just one year old. The prophecy said that neither can live while the other survives, which means one will have to kill the other. When Voldemort arrived at the Potter home to murder Harry, his mother and father put up a big fight and ended up trying to duel Lord Voldemort. But Lilly, Harry's mother didnt have her wand on her, so she was defenseless. While James, Harry's father tried to hold Lord Voldemort off; Lilly ran to Harry's room to try and hide him. But Lord Voldemort didn't take very long to get past James by casting a killing curse at him. That night, Lily sacrificed herself to save Harry; And by doing that, she unknowingly case an ancient spell on him. And when Lord Voldemort cast the killing curse at Harry, the ancient charm that was just put on him, overpowered Lord Voldemort and his killing curse rebounded and hit himself." By this point, i was in a trance. Completely intrigued.

"What does this have to do with me?" I asked, confused.

"Well to put it bluntly, we need you to protect Harry" Albus Dumbledore said.

"_Protect_ Harry? But i can barely protect myself! I wont be able to do anything." i said in astonishment.

"Well, thats where you're wrong Isabella. I dont think your father told you anything. Isabella, Your a witch, and so is your mother." It was a while before i could speak.

"I'm a.... what?" I asked baffled. I walked over to the steps leading down to the lawn and sat down.

"A witch. You are what wizards call "Half-Blood". Your mother is a witch but your father is a muggle. The reason you didnt find out about your magical blood before now is because your father wrote to me telling me that he would prefer you to have a normal non-magical life. Otherwise you would have found out at age eleven, when you would get your Hogwarts acceptance letter." Professor Dumbledore explained.

"So if im a witch, im not a very experienced one. What help will i be giving?" i asked. I turned around to look at him and for the first time since meeting him about half an hour ago, i saw no smile on his face and worry in his blue eyes.

"Well you see Isabella-"

"Bella" I corrected him.

"Bella, You see, Harry is in his sixth year at Hogwarts and Lord Voldemort is still getting stronger by the minute. I'm afraid Harry is not strong enough yet to be able to handle Lord Voldemort. Physically he is almost there, that is true. But emotionally, he is not, not even close. I believe you are the ideal person to protect Harry." Professor Dumbledore said with a calculating look on his face.

"How do i protect him? I dont know any magic or anything remotely close to it." i said turning back around to look into the forest.

"You can, there's just one problem with it. In order to do this you need a be a...Vampire" Albus DUmbledore said and i could feel the color drain from my face as i froze, not even breathing.


	2. Something That I Never Had

Something that i never had.

Well, i keep telling myself things can turn around with time.

And if i wait it out, you could always change your mind,

Like a fairy tale, where it works out in the end,

Can i close my eyes, have you lying here again?

Then i come back down, then fade back in,

Then i realise it's just what might have been.

Someday, i just keep pretending,

That you'll stay,

Dreaming of a different ending

I want to hold on, but it hurts so bad.

I can't keep something that i never had.

"A...a..." i trailed off, completely caught off guard. I could feel the tears beginning to spill over.

"A vampire Bella, i can probably tell why you're upset. But not to worry dear, i spoke to Aro, he is the leader of the Volturi. The Volturi are an ancient clan of vampires who are seen as royalty and law in their world. He has made it possible that you do not have to give up your life. Aro has allowed to let your mother and father in on the... ah... secret i guess you can call it." Albus Dumbledore said, his smile gone and he was watching me very carefully. I felt a little awkward being watched so i got up and slowly paced the lawn.

"what secret?" i asked, still pacing. Professor Dumbledore walked down the steps and sat down on the bottom stair.

"It is Vampire Law that every vampire is to protect their identity a secret at all costs. Aro, Marcus and Caius have made an exception for you as it is not in your best interests to transform. You are allowed to tell your parents that you are a vampire but only your parents Bella. This is, if you are willing to help us." Albus said.

"Um, Me? A Vampire?" i stated astounded, i had once pictured and adored the idea of me becoming a vampire, but for only one reason and that reason doesn't want me anymore. As i thought this i could feel a tear roll down my cheek, i hastily wiped it away before Professor Dumbledore could see.

"I guess i should explain exactly what will happen, are you familiar with vampires Bella?" i decided it probably wasn't smart to tell Professor Dumbledore everything i know about _his _family. So i should my head.

"No? Okay well, Vampires are not at all like the legends and stories, firstly; they are not all bad, it is possible to resist human blood. Secondly, they do not sleep all day and hunt all night. Vampires do not sleep at all. Thirdly, Vampires will not combust into dust if they are exposed to sun, they can stay in the sun all day; they just simply glitter. But some things are the same as the stories, such as Vampires do not eat, and they are incredibly pale; as they do not have any blood in their veins. It is replaced with venom when they are changed. As part of their camouflage they appear inhumanly beautiful." Dumbledore explained. I stopped pacing and just stared at this man infront of me.

"I...um...Well...I-" I stammered, not knowing what to say.

"I know this is a big decision to make, so how about i give you a few days to think things through and i'll come back to hear your decision." Professor Dumbledore said but i didnt say anything. "Goodbye for now Bella." And with another popping sound Professor Albus Dumbledore was gone. I stared at the spot where he disappeared for a while, when i finally snapped out of my shock i noticed it had started raining.

I half ran upstairs to change into sweats and a jumper to avoid getting sick. I looked and saw that it was 3:30 in the afternoon, i decided it would be a good idea to work on some homework before starting dinner.

"That smells great Bells" Charlie said as he walked into the kitchen 3 hours later.

"Thanks dad, it's almost ready. I'm just waiting on the potatoes" I said as i checked to see if they had cooked.

"Do you want any help?" Charlie asked awkwardly shifting his feet.

"No thanks dad, i'm almost finished. You go and watch the game and i'll call you when it's ready." I said

"Thanks Bells" Charlie said as he walked into the TV room.

When the potatoes finished cooking i put the Steak, Potatoes and Salad on two plates and set them on the table.

"Dinner's ready" I called to Charlie.

"Thanks Bells" Charlie said as he sat down in front of his dinner.

"No problem" I said as i began to eat my salad.

The room was quiet for a few minutes while we both ate, after i finished my salad and before i started my potatoes i decided it was time to ask.

"Dad?" I asked quietly looking at my food.

"Yeah Bella?" Charlie said.

"Um, well i got a visit from an interesting person today."

"Really? What did the person want?" He asked setting his fork on the table.

"Just to talk, his name was.. um.. Albus Dumbledore" I said looking up to see Charlie's face, there was a mixture of confusion, shock and a bit of anger.

"Who sorry?" Charlie asked, staring at me.

"He said his name was Albus Dumbledore, he's the headmaster at a school name Hogwarts" I said closely looking for his reaction.

"What did he say to you?"

"He told me about himself and a bit about Hogwarts" I said, and then added feeling stupider with every word. "And... um, he also said something that kind of shocked me.."

"Oh, what was that Bella?" Charlie said, beginning to eat his dinner again.

"He...well.. He said that Hogwarts... is a school of... Witchcraft.. And Wizardry" by the time i had gotten this far Charlie had stopped eating again. "And that.. um.. I'm a Witch" i finished with a nervous laugh.

"He did, did he?" Charlie said nervously and then started muttering under his breath.

"Well.. dad was Professor Dumbledore telling the truth?" I asked starting to feel sick.

"Yes Bella, it's true." Charlie said, looking everywhere but at me.

"So..I'm a... a witch?" I asked, and i felt a chill of discomfort roll down my spine.

"Yes"

"And Mum?" I asked quietly.

"Yes, your mother's a Witch too"

"I see" I said feeling quite sick. "Excuse me please" I said and got up from the table. I ran as quickly as i could - without falling over - to the bathroom where i was physically sick.

After cleaning myself up a bit i decided i would go straight to bed _Surely Charlie can handle cleaning dinner up for one night_ i thought as i pulled back my covers.

After getting into bed, i knew i wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon.

_I have alot to think about_ i thought as i turned off my light.


	3. Stop The World

Chapter 3 - Stop The World.

You can't stop the world  
But there's so much more we could do  
You can't stop this girl  
From falling more in love with you.  
You said nobody has to know  
If its time to go  
And take it slow  
But I can stop the world  
If they finally let us be alone  
Let us be alone.

After cleaning myself up a bit I decided I would go straight to bed. _Surely Charlie can handle cleaning dinner up for one night_. I thought as I pulled back my covers.

After getting into bed, I knew I wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon.

_I have a lot to think about._ I thought as I turned off my light.

* * *  
It has been 2 days since my visit from Professor Dumbledore, I knew he would be returning soon to hear my decision. If Professor Dumbledore had asked me this favor a few months ago, I probably would have rejected it without a second thought, mainly because _he_ wouldn't have permitted it. At the time I thought it would have been to protect me, but now I can see that it was because _he_ wouldn't have wanted me around forever. But now that _they_ are gone, and I don't have any friends except for Jacob - who doesn't speak to me anymore -. Dumbledore said my parents are allowed to know about Vampires, I really didn't see a point as to why I shouldn't accept his offer. I would be getting my immortality, I could keep my parents in my life, I wouldn't be a weak human, _he_ may want me back, I could help protect people from harm.

3 hours later I was interrupted by another popping noise and I knock at the door, _I didn't know he would be here so quickly._

"Hello Bella" Professor Dumbledore greeted me when I opened the door to reveal the same old man from a few days ago.

"Hello Professor Dumbledore" I said as I stepped aside to let him inside.

Albus Dumbledore walked into the hallway slightly looking around at Charlie's decorative skills, I directed him into the T.V room and it was awkwardly quiet for a moment until I broke the silence.

"I know why you are here Professor" I said quietly " I didn't think you would be here so soon." Dumbledore sat down on Charlie's armchair while I sat on the loveseat.

"Yes, I understand that Bella, but we are a bit short on time. I don't intend to be rude or to be moving too quickly but I was wondering if you have made a decision yet?" I sighed, knowing it would happen. My heart was beating a mile a minute and I could feel sweat breaking against my neck. _Get a hold on yourself Bella; you've always wanted this._  
"Yes I have, I would be pleased to help you Sir" I said as I watched for Albus' reaction, he beamed; seemingly genuinely happy and relieved.

"Oh Bella! That is wonderful news. We will need to leave right away. The sooner, the better." Professor Dumbledore said, still beaming. I gasped.

"W-What? We're leaving now?" I asked, panicking "No! What about Charlie? Jacob?"

"Bella, Bella, calm down. This is not goodbye for yourself and Charlie, you will see him again soon along with your mother and stepfather. But I'm sorry, you're going to have to leave Jacob behind." Dumbledore explained.  
I stared at him in astonishment for a few seconds. How am I supposed to leave Jake behind? He was my rock, he was there through my darkest time while everyone else walked away.. Until recently. But I still consider him my best friend even if I'm not his.

"I have to leave... Jake?" I asked -mostly to myself- trying to wrap my head around -to picture it-.

"I'm afraid so Bella" Professor Dumbledore said, looking at me with sympathy in his eyes.

"O-Okay" I said as I vowed to myself that after I was no longer needed at Hogwarts, I would return to see Jake, even if I can't talk to him.

"Brilliant, now Bella I assume Charlie will be home soon?" Albus Dumbledore asked, looking at the clock.  
"Yes, but Professor Dumbledore I know this may sound strange. But can we wait until I get back to tell Charlie, Renee and Phil that I will be a Vampire? Perhaps _when_ I am a Vampire, it will be easier for them to understand. In my family, seeing is believing."

"That sounds fair, but I think you should tell your mother, father and Phil where you are going, so they know that you are safe." Professor Dumbledore said.

"Of course Professor, we will tell them I am going to Hogwarts to learn magic?" I suggested.

"Very good Bella" He said smiling.

"I should call Renee and Phil then," I said quietly, getting up and dialing Renee's number.

"Hello?" I heard my mother say.

"Hi Mom" I said smiling at the sound of her voice.

"Bella honey! Oh I've been so worried! How are you? Have you been eating? How's School? How's Jake?.."

"Mom! Mom!" I cut her off "Everything is fine here. I'm in a hurry, but I just called to tell you some interesting news."

"Oh and what is that my dear?"

"I'm going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Professor Albus Dumbledore came to dads and told me all about Hogwarts and you and I being witches." I explained, letting it sink in.

"You.. Y-You know?" She stuttered.

"Yes, I know"

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you. I wanted you to have a normal non-magical life." My mother frantically explained.

"Its okay mom, I'm not angry. I understand why you did it, but I really have to go now, I need to tell Dad."

"Okay Bella, bye honey. I love you, be sure to write me as often as you can and tell me all about it." Renee said excitedly, sounding more like the mother I used to live with.

"I will, bye mom, I love you." I said and hung up the phone.

"I believe your father is home now." Professor Dumbledore said when I walked back into the room. I heard the front door open and close, followed by Charlie's voice saying "Bells?"

"In here dad" I called back, I saw him enter the lound room and as his eyes landed on Professor Dumbledore he let out a small gasp.

"Hello Charlie" Professor Dumbledore said politely. It was a few minutes before Charlie replied with a slight nod and a "hello".

"May I ask what has made you visit Albus?" Charlie asked shifting awkwardly on his feet.

"Well Charlie, as it so happens Bella here wishes to attend Hogwarts and I am here to take her back with me." Dumbledore said calmly.

"I...Um... Wh-Bella?" Charlie stuttered, looking at me with confusion in his eyes and on his face.

"I want to go to Hogwarts dad," I said with an innocent smile.

"But you're 18 years old, the students at Hogwarts finish their education at 17." Charlie said, looking at both Professor Dumbledore and myself.

"We'll make an exception for Bella, I believe everyone deserves an education," Dumbledore said.

"Well if this is what you want Bells," Charlie said nodding.

"It is," I said nodding as well.

"Excellent!" Professor Dumbledore said "Bella we have to hurry."

"Of course Professor," I said and ran up to pack a bag. I grabbed my favourite books and as many clothes that could fit into the bag. I then ran to the bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush and hairbrush along with my shampoo and toothpaste.

"Okay I'm ready," I said walking down the stairs, Professor Dumbledore and Charlie were standing in the entryway.

"Bye Bells, have fun." Charlie said giving me an awkward hug.

"Bye dad, I love you," I said hugging him back.

"I love you too kiddo."

"Well we best be off now, It was good to see you again Charlie," Dumbledore said stepping out onto the porch with me trailing along.

"It was good to see you too Albus," Charlie said standing in the doorway.

"Are you ready Bella?" Dumbledore asked me.

"Yes sir, I'm ready."

"Alright, Goodbye Charlie. Please take a deep breath and then take my arm Bella."

I took a deep breath and said bye to my dad. When I touched Dumbledore's arm I felt as if my body was being crushed from all sides, my lungs closed and I couldn't breathe. But as quickly as it came, it disappeared just as quick.

As I opened my eyes and looked around I saw that Professor Dumbledore and I were standing in what looked like an entryway. There were two large doors at the end of the room and an elegant desk in the middle of the room; it matched the room's theme perfectly. When I looked up to the ceiling and saw beautiful ancient paintings on it. I looked back towards the doors when I heard them open and close.

"Oh welcome back Professor Dumbledore." I heard a woman say, she had brown shiny hair and green eyes, she was very pretty.

"Thank you Gianna. This is Isabella, Bella this is Gianna." Dumbledore said, gesturing to both of us.

"Hello." I said politely and she said the same to me.

"So is this Hogwarts Professor?" I asked, "It looks different to what I imagined." I added mostly to myself.

"Oh, no Bella. This is Volterra. This is the home of the Volturi, this is also where you'll have your transformation." Dumbledore said, and at that moment Gianna walked back into the room.

"You can go in now." She said and held the door open as we walked in.

I walked in behind Professor Dumbledore and saw 3 men sitting on thrones in the middle of the room, there were other people standing around the thrones almost... guarding them.

The man in the middle stood up, he had brown hair, very pale skin and blood red eyes; I knew automatically what they were, human blood drinking Vampires.

"Ah Bella! How wonderful it is to meet you at last!" The man said.

Suddenly I felt very light headed and dizzy and I fell over; everything went black. I knew what had happened.  
I had fainted.

**[[Author Note: I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! My computer has decided to not work for me. Both of them, ugh. Anyway a big thanks to Forever17lover for helping me out, you are the best! REVIEWWW :)]]**


	4. Before The Storm

Chapter 4 - Before The Storm

I know this isn't what I wanted  
I never thought it'd come this far  
Just thinking back to where we started  
And how we lost all that we are  
We were young and times were easy  
But I could see it's not the same  
I'm standing here but you don't see me  
I'd give it all, for that to change.  
Standing out in the rain  
Knowing that it's really over  
Please don't leave me alone.

Three days... three excruciatingly, long painful days. The pain itself was almost unbearable as it spread through my veins leaving fire behind, but what made it worse was that I couldn't remember anything after walking into the throne room and meeting Aro. I was wondering how long I could hold back my next scream when the fire in my hands and feet started fading away, leaving tingles in it's place. Just when I thought, _maybe my torture is ending,_ the fire flared up again centering around my heart until I thought it would burst. I screamed out in pain as the fire reached it's peak and then it rapidly decreased until it was gone altogether. I breathed a sigh of relief, my sigh turned into a gasp as I opened my eyes and could see every dust particle in the air above me.

"She's awake" I heard a woman say, it sounded as if the voice was coming from downstairs. I was amazed by my vampire hearing I knew it was good but not _this_ good.

"Hello Isabella," I heard a male voice say. I turned my head and saw a man standing over me. He had pale white skin, brown hair to his shoulders that made his skin look even paler, his eyes were what caught _my_ eye though; they were bright red and he had ruby red lips. He was beautiful and familiar, it was Aro.

"Hello Aro" I gasped at my voice, it sounded like Bells and Chimes.

"How was your transformation?" He asked casually, I looked away from him to a girl I recognized as Jane, she smiled at me before regaining her blank expression.

"Painful" I said truthfully, I sat up on the lounge that I must have been on for my transformation. I looked down at my clothes and saw that I still had my white skinny leg jeans on, my emerald green singlet top, my black zip-up hoodie and my black ballet flats on that I had arrived in. After _they_ left I had updated my wardrobe in order to stay close to my former family; I guess I was afraid that it _would_ feel like they never existed. I thought that maybe they would come back if I weren't such a disaster.

"Oh, well nevermind Isabella, it is all over now." Aro said and then turned behind him and added "This is Jane, she will be like a sister to you. She will tell you the rules of our kind, and how to follow them. She will also give you fight training. In order to do the job Albus Dumbledore has requested of you, you will need magic training as well. Albus has arranged a Witch or Wizard to come and teach you spells."

"Hi Isabella" Jane said, stepping forward. She had blonde hair that was tied into a bun and was wearing a black dress that flowed to her knees, black ballet flats that glittered a little in the light and over her dress she was wearing a deep red cloak.

"Hi Jane" I said with a smile.

"I will leave you to it then Jane" Aro said and turned away from us and walked to the door, "Oh, Welcome to our world Isabella" Aro said and walked out.

"Thank you" I said, knowing he can still hear me.

"Well I suppose you must be thirsty?" Jane asked from in front of me.

"Yes I am," I said, noticing the burning sensation in the back of my throat.

"Okay lets go get you some blood. The kitchen's this way." Jane said pointing down the hallway.

"You keep blood in the kitchen?" I asked, _I thought vampires hunted_.... _he did_. I didn't mean to gasp but it slipped out. _Maybe he said that just to get away from me._

"No we don't, but you do." Jane answered, ignoring my little gasp from before.

By now we were in the kitchen, it was a simple kitchen with a sink, fridge, oven and all the usual appliances.  
"I have blood in the fridge?" I asked.

"Yes, Albus has made it clear that you are to drink the blood he provided. It will keep you at your strongest at all times. It also has a potion in it that will manipulate your sense of smell towards magical blood. When you d come across a human with magical blood, you will not be able to smell it. That way the students at Hogwarts will not be in danger around you." Jane explained. She then walked over to the fridge and got out a bag and a small tube that had a clear liquid in it.

"This," Jane said, holding up the bag "is magical human blood, it comes from a wizard hospital called St. Mungos." She then put down the bag and picked up the tube, "And this is a potion that Albus called 'Sensius Morosis', the Smell Manipulation potion." Jane walked over to a cupboard next to the fridge and took out a cup. She then walked over to where I was standing and picked up the bag of blood.

"You'll need to control yourself, the smell of blood will be almost overwhelming to you" Jane warned, and when I nodded she unclasped the bag. The smell of the blood was indeed overwhelming, when the smell filled my nose, a burn in my throat flared up. I locked my muscles in place as much as I could and gripped the bench in front of me to keep me still. I could feel the dents my hands were making in the counter but at the moment I didn't care.

"Very good Isabella" I heard Jane say, her eyes 2 shades darker. I was sure mine were pitch black just like HIS were the first day we met. Jane poured some of the blood into the cup just as I swallowed the venom that had filled my mouth. When she re-clasped the bag the smell instantly cut off except for the blood in the cup but I could handle that so I unlocked my muscles and unclenched the bench.

"Oh sorry," I said looking down to see my handprints on the table.

"It's alright, I was expecting you to break it." Jane said casually. She handed me the cup but stopped me as I was about to drink it, "Add the potion" she told me.

After adding the potion, the blood started smoking and when it stopped, it looked like nothing had happened to it. I drank it greedily and then felt warmth spread throughout my body.

"Wow that tastes great," I said in surprise.

"Yeah apparently it tastes better than normal human blood. It doesn't smell any different, a little sweeter maybe" Jane mused.

"Do you want some?" I asked, _what else do I say?_

"No, no that's okay, we need to talk about some things though Isabella -"

"Bella" I corrected her, she looked at me confused.

"Excuse me?"

"Call me Bella, I don't like Isabella."

"Oh, well okay. Bella you need to be aware of the rules, Come on lets go sit down." I followed Jane out of the kitchen and down a set of stairs. "This is the guard floor, it has every guard members room on it. We can talk in my room." She led me down five or six doors until she came to a door that held a sign saying "Jane" on the front.

Inside her room was simple, there was a simple white leather couch on the far wall facing a big flat screen television. The east wall was covered by a big bookshelf, all filled with books, the wall next to it had a door in it which I could only imagine was to a bathroom because next to it was a wardrobe. Jane sat down on the couch and I went to sit next to her.

"How much do you know about our world?" Jane asked simply.

"Um not much" I said somewhat truthfully, I didn't know a lot about Vampires in general, just a lot about _them._

"Okay, ill start at the basics then. As you can tell vampires have no blood, it has been replaced with venom. We are strong, very strong we could easily lift a truck over our heads. We can run extremely fast, so fast that human eyes can't see us, we have very acute hearing and smell. We don't sleep and can't go out into sunlight without the risk of exposure because our skin glitters; which brings me to the next point we only have one major rule. Keep the secret, meaning don't let humans find out about our kind. Now, there is always an option of how you want to live this life, you do not have to feed off humans, there is the option of feeding off animals. Human drinking vampires have red eyes; like we do and Animal drinking vampires have golden eyes." As she said this, my mind flashed to 7 pairs of golden eyes all smiling happily at me, as each face changed it was like a stab to my now unbeating heart. "These vampires are very rare to come across but there are a few of them out there. They aren't as strong as human drinking vampires but they're strong enough. I only know of 2 covens myself." I was starting to get really nervous, _please don't go into detail. Please don't go into detail._ I started chanting in my head. "Anyway, some vampires even have an ability, like me, I can inflict pain on anyone I want. Aro can hear every thought someone has ever had just by touching them. There are many other abilities as well. We actually believe that you may be a type of shield; a mental shield. So we'll try to exercise that too." I nodded my understanding, _maybe that's why_ _he couldn't read my thoughts._

"Do you have any questions?" Jane asked

"No" I said after thinking for a moment and coming up black.

"Okay well if you think of anything just let me know. Come on I'll introduce you to some of the guard." She said and got up and walked out of the room, I followed. We walked until we stopped at a door that had the name

"Chelsea and Afton" Jane knocked on the door and I heard a soft 'come in'.

Chelsea and Afton's room was painted in a soft orange color, there was a large bed on the wall across from where we stood, the east wall had a big painting of a desert and under it was a large desk with a notebook computer on it. The north wall had a television in the middle and it looked brand new, next to it on either side was a door, which I presumed was the bathroom and closet.

I directed my attention to Chelsea who was sitting on a couch.

"Hello Chelsea, I just came by to introduce Isabella. She'll be staying with us for a while before she goes to England." Jane said as we walked further into the room.

"Hello Isabella, as you probably guessed I'm Chelsea, but you can call me Chels." Chelsea said as she stood up and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi Chels, you can call me Bella," I said with a smile.

'So you're the newborn we have here are you?" She asked with a slight giggle.

'I guess I am" I said with a laugh.

"So where about in America did you come from?" She asked casually sitting back down on the sofa.

"Forks, Washington"

"Oh, I've heard of there, a coven of vampires live there don't they?" Chels asked Jane. _No they left. _I answered in my mind.

"Yeah, uh Carlisle Cullens coven, -_flinch_- There's Carlisle -_flinch_-, Esme -_flinch_-, Alice -_flinch_-, Jasper -_flinch_-, Rosalie -_flinch_-, Emmett -_flinch_- and Edward –_double flinch_-" As Jane said each of their names I felt the familiar and unwelcome pain in my heart.

"Bella are you alright? You're awfully quiet and you look a little down." Chels said coming to stand next to me and putting a hand on my shoulder, I expected her hand to be ice cold but it wasn't.

"Yeah, I'm alright. It's just... I knew The C-" I took a deep but unnecessary breath " I k-knew them"

"The Cullens?" Jane and Chels asked at the same time, I flinched but nodded anyway.

"How did you know them?" Chels asked quietly

"They went to my school, I was f-friends with t-them"

"What happened? They're not suppose to reveal themselves to humans." Chels mused and Jane nodded.

"They didn't reveal themselves to me." I exclaimed coming to defend them.

"They didn't?" Jane asked.

"No" I shook my head, "E-...E-" I tried taking a deep breath. "Ed-" I let out a sob.

"Emmett?" Chels offered. I flinched but shook my head to say 'no'.

"Edward" Jane guessed. I flinched noticeably and a small whimper escaped my mouth.

I nodded and said, "He tried to s-scare me away." I sighed and Chels squeezed my shoulder reassuringly.

"Then what happened? Obviously he didn't scare you very well if you were friends." Chels asked, pulling me onto the sofa.

"I fell -" I cleared my throat, "I fell in l-love"

"With Edward?" Jane asked, I winced and nodded slightly.

"He d-doesn't love m-me" I whispered and broke down sobbing.

"Bella, shh, Bella it's okay" Chels said while Jane rubbed my back.

"I'm sorry I'm usually n-not this emotional."

"It's okay, we understand. Does he know you are here?" Jane asked, I shook my head.

"He probably still thinks I'm in F-Forks." I said shakily

"Wouldn't he notice if he doesn't see you around?" Chels asked.

"H-Him and his f-family left Forks a few m-months ago. None of t-them said b-bye. HE told m-me he doesn't l-love me, that I w-was a distraction and that h-he's s-sorry." I whispered.

"At least he apologized." Jane whispered. I shook my head.

"He said he's s-sorry for l-letting it go on for so l-long" I whimpered.

"Oh" Jane said.

"Do you mind if we go back to the kitchen? I'm thirsty again," I asked, taking a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Sure, we'll see you later Chelsea, I still need to introduce Bella to everyone else." Jane said and walked to the door.

"Okay, see you later Jane. It was nice meeting you Bella' Chels said hugging me tightly.

"It was nice to meet you too Chels." I said and walked over to Jane.

"And Bella? Don't worry about him, he's a fool." She added, I gave a small smile and walked out the door.

[[Author Note: I'm sorry this chapter was long, well it was to me... I know this chapter is boring, but I wanted to get more of the Volturi, I'm gonna be doing more. So yeah, sorry :) xx]]


	5. Russian Roulette

**[Author Note: Sorry i changed some of the things in this chapter, it wasn't anything too drastic, just Tonks' Outfit]**

Chapter 5 - Russian Roulette

Take a breath, take it deep  
"Calm yourself" he says to me  
If you play, you play for keeps  
Take the gun, and count to three.  
I'm sweating now, moving slow  
No time to think, my turn to go.  
And you can see my heart beating  
You can see it through my chest  
Said I'm terrified, but I'm not leaving  
I know that I must pass this test  
So just pull the trigger.

"Okay, see you later Jane. It was nice meeting you Bella" Chels said hugging me tightly.  
"It was nice to meet you too Chels," I said and walked over to Jane.  
"And Bella? Don't worry about him, he's a fool." She added, I gave a small smile and walked out the door.

* * *

I had spent the remainder of the day and night meeting people - although now I couldn't remember any of their names -, I had tried to pay as much attention as I could but my mind kept wandering into my thoughts. It was so intense that my brain had completely slipped and I was only there in body.  
A knock at the door to the room we were in pulled me back to the present.  
"Come in," I heard the girl in front of me say, the door opened and Aro walked through the threshold.  
"Good morning Ladies." He said, smiling at Jane, myself and the woman I didn't know the name of.  
"Good morning Aro," said the girl, she was breath-takingly beautiful.  
"I'm sorry to interrupt you girls but I'm going to have to steal Bella away for a while. Jane you are needed in the Throne room." Aro said and at once Jane stood up, I followed her.  
"Yes sir, Bye Heidi." Jane said and walked out the door. _Okay so her name's Heidi._  
"Good-bye Heidi, it was nice to meet you." I said quietly and walked out the door with Aro beside me.  
"Good-bye Bella. It was nice to meet you too." I heard Heidi say from inside her room.  
"Okay Bella, we're going to the Throne room to meet Albus Dumbledore again so he can introduce you to the witch who will help you with spells." Aro explained as we walked through the hallways.  
"Okay, is that why Jane is needed in the Throne room as well? Because there's a new person coming?" I asked.  
"No, I don't believe Albus would bring someone who wishes to hurt us. We are having some other visitors as well. But as well as I know this coven... I guess you can't be too careful." He said, I nodded in understanding, although I didn't really understand it.

We walked into the Throne room, there were 3 thrones in the middle - the same as before- two of them were occupied by who I recognized as Marcus and Caius.  
"Good morning Isabella. Aro." I heard Caius say from the throne furthest away from us.  
"Good morning." I said politely walking towards them behind Aro.  
When we reached them - much quicker than if I was human - I heard Marcus say "Good morning," in his lifeless voice.  
"Hello." I said with a small smile.  
"Alec, please go tell Albus and his guest that we are ready for them." Aro said once he was seated and I had moved to the side. A boy who looked to be about 15 or 16 years of age stepped away from the wall, he had brown hair and was about the height of Jane. He was very beautiful, just like everyone else in the room was.  
"Good morning Albus," Aro said once Alec walked back through the doors with Professor Dumbledore and a woman.  
"Good morning Aro, Marcus, Caius. Nice to see you again Bella." Professor Dumbledore said smiling at me briefly before introducing the woman next to him.  
"This is Nymphadora Tonks, she's an Auror for the Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore said gesturing to Nymphadora. She had simple features but they suited her well, she wore a tight black and white checked dress with black tights under black robes and was also wearing black boots **[AN: Pic On Profile]**. But what caught my wasn't any of these; it was her bright pink hair.  
"Pleased to meet you Nymphadora, I am Aro, this is Marcus and Caius," Aro said pointing to them. "And these people are some members of our guard, This is Jane, Alec, Felix and Demetri." As each name was said, the person stepped forward and nodded. "And this is Isabella Swan, she's the girl you will be training." Aro added and gestured towards me.  
"Hello Isabella," Nymphadora said with a gentle smile.  
"Hi." I said politely.  
"Alright, now that everyone is acquainted with each other I'm afraid we are going to have to rescheduel the catching up. We have some guests arriving soon." I was surprised at how rude Aro sounded when he said this, but Professor Dumbledore didn't seem fazed by his tone.  
"Of course Aro. Bella; Nymphadora can I please speak to you two in another room so I can explain everything?"  
"Sure. Demetri please show Albus, Isabella and Nymphadora to a room." Aro said eagerly ushering us away.

- -

"You know.. You're really beautiful." Demetri said quietly - low enough that only I could hear - after a moment of silent walking.  
"Oh.. Um... Thanks Demetri." I said shyly, if I could blush I would be. I heard Demetri laugh, the sound was harmonic and velvet-like, the sound made me wince slightly.  
"You don't take a lot of compliments do you?" he asked.  
"What makes you think that?" I asked casually  
"Just the usual shyness and everything."  
"I could just be shy in general." I said paying close attention to where we were walking.  
"Oh, I know you are. I can tell by the way you aren't looking at me." Demetri said, his voice melting on my ears. _This isn't right. It's too early._ I thought, but banished it quickly. _He doesn't love me._  
"Maybe I just don't want to look at you." I joked and laugh but added, "I was only kidding." when I saw he looked hurt.  
"So you do like looking at me?" Demetri said with a smirk, the smile reminded me of my favourite smile on _his_ glorious face.  
"Well I wouldn't go as far to say that I_ like_ it." I said with a chuckle, "I guess you're pretty cute."  
"I call you beautiful and all I get is pretty cute?" he said with a 'tsk'.  
"Would you rather I call you beautiful?"  
"Only if you really mean it," he said, batting his eyelashes the look was adorable. I couldn't help but laugh, my breathing sped up a little bit.  
"Okay you're beautiful."  
"Aw Isabella, you're so sweet." Demetri said with a fake swoon. "Well here we are. You can talk in this room."  
"Thank you Demetri." Professor Dumbledore said and walked into the room after shaking his hand with Nymphadora following him after she had said "Thanks".  
"Thanks, Bye Demetri." I said, with a small smile I walked into the room.  
"Bye beautiful," he replied with a wink before he backed up the hall, walking at Vampire speed.  
"So... what do we need to talk about?" I asked after an awkward silence.  
"Well first thing is first, I expect you have been drinking the blood I provided in the bag?" Professor Dumbledore asked, I nodded my head to say "yes" and he continued, "and added the potion?"  
"Yes."  
"Okay, thank you for obeying my wishes Bella. Now to complete the potion you need to add this liquid just once. It will make it the potion complete and go into effect." Professor Dumbledore said while taking a small bottle out of his cloak along with his wand; with a swish of it a cup of liquid appeared in mid-air. Dumbledore handed both to me and told me to mix and then drink them. As I swallowed the blood the usual warmth spread throughout my body and when it faded away my throat and nose erupted in a tingling sensation that only lasted a few seconds.  
"Can you smell us Bella?" Dumbledore asked calmly. I realized that I had stopped breathing, I took a deep breath of air, expecting the dulled aroma of blood but was surprised to find that the air was clear. If it wasn't for their steady breathing and heartbeats I would have almost thought I was alone.  
"No." I gasped and both Dumbledore and Nymphadora smiled.  
"Good, very good. Now, when you are properly trained I will come back for you and bring you to Hogwarts. Do you have any questions?" Albus asked patiently.  
"Yes I do actually." I said shyly, Professor Dumbledore nodded for me to continue. "Will I be learning everything before I go to Hogwarts? Or will I still be training?"  
"No, you will still be training while you are at Hogwarts. A student will be tutoring you, her name is Hermione Granger. She's very advanced for her age and is the brightest student at Hogwarts. She has even fought Lord Voldemort's followers at her age so you are in good hands."  
"Hermione doesn't mind that she has to tutor me?" I asked feeling guilty.  
"Of course not, she's nervous of course because she knows you're a newborn vampire but she's happy to do it. Harry is her best friend."  
"Oh, okay. That's very nice of her. When do you think ill be ready to go to Hogwarts?"  
"In about a month or two." I just nodded, not really knowing what to say.  
"Okay well if you don't have any more questions, ill leave you two to begin training." Professor Dumbledore said and stood up.

- -

"Okay Isabella. We'll work on dodging spells today, and you'll also be getting your wand. Does that sound okay?" Nymphadora asked, standing up and pulling out her wand. "Are we going to train in here?".  
"Um, yeah I guess, we can move the furniture to the edge of the room." I said looking around and seeing that there wasn't much furniture around and nodded my head in comfirmation, "at least until we find something else."  
"Wingardium Leviosa." Nymphadora muttered and with a flick of her wand the table in the middle of the room floated off the ground and levitated in mid-air. I gaped openly at the table as it slowly moved across the room, I was so shocked that I didn't hear Nymphadora calling out my name.  
"Isabella!" I heard her say when I finally got over the shock of seeing magic.  
"Oh.. Sorry Nymphadora, that was just... wow." I stuttered, not knowing how to explain it.  
"That's okay Isabella," she said with a laugh, "But call me Tonks, everyone I know does. It's easier than saying Nymphadora."  
"Okay, but only if you call me Bella." I said with a smile.  
"Don't you like your name? It's very beautiful." Tonks said, moving the last few chairs to the side of the room.  
"It's a nice name, but it sounds too formal to me."  
"Okay Bella, lets get started."

An hour had passed and I was constantly dodging spells. I didn't have time to think a proper thought before I had to dodge another spell. By the end of the hour I was getting overwhelmed and wasn't moving fast enough.  
"Come on Bella! Move faster!" Tonks yelled, trying to get me to pick up my pace.  
After a couple of leaps from side to side, I actually got hit by a spell.  
"Stupefy!" Tonks yelled and the same jet of red light flashed towards me, I had only moved slightly when I was knocked off my feet.  
"Are you okay?" she asked once I had stood up again.  
"Yeah I'm fine. Can I take a break?, this is all a bit overwhelming." I said taking a deep breath and feeling relieved when I didn't feel the burn in my throat.  
"Wow," I heard Tonks whisper, I looked up and saw her staring at me.  
"What?" I asked her cautiously.  
"Your eyes, I knew what happened but I didn't know it would be this amazing!" As my emotions turned to confusion, Tonks' smile spread across her face.  
"What about my eyes?"  
"They changed color with your emotions." Tonks said simply, as if I should already know.  
"M-My eyes changed color?" I asked shocked, as I felt this, I could faintly feel a small tingle behind my eyes. It only lasted a few seconds. "Is-Is that suppose t-to happen?" I asked nervously, wondering if something had gone wrong with me.  
"Oh, No don't worry Bella. It doesn't happen very often but it has happened before. There must be something special with you." Tonks declared with a smile. _Great, another thing to add to the list of my oddness._ I thought bitterly.  
"Okay Bella, I think we're done here but before you go anywhere, Mister Ollivander is here to help you find your wand." Tonks said when I didn't say anything.  
"Okay," I said with a nod and led the way back to the Throne room.  
When Aro had finished explaining the reason behind my eyes to everyone else, Gianna - the human receptionist - brought in Mr. Ollivander, he was a frail looking old man.  
"Hello Mister Ollivander, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Aro, this is Caius and this is Marcus."

- -

"Okay Isabella. This is the last wand I have with me, so if it doesn't choose you, I will return with some more at another date." Mr. Ollivander said and handed me a light brown wand - we had already tried 5 wands and so far they had all caused disaster - I gave it a flick and colourful water squirted out of the tip, it sent jolts of calming electricity through my arm.  
"Wonderful! The wood of your new wand is Elder, the core is Unicorn Hair and it is 9.99 inches." He rattled off and started packing his things up. You could tell he didn't like being here very much.  
When he had finished packing, himself and Tonks left together after polite good-byes.  
_My life sure has taken a sharp turn._ I thought as I walked back to the guest bedroom I was staying in.

**[AN: Okay, I know it's been way too long since I've updated. And I also know that this is a lousy chapter, but don't worry the next chapter is a Cullen one. Hopefully it'll be good enough. And for those who didn't like the Demetri part, I'm sorry but I thought he would be like that. Bella wasn't flirting with him, and she didn't realise he was flirting. She was being friendly. Please Review! xx]**


	6. Dear Friend

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters or plots, Stephenie Meyer and J.K Rowling own it all.

**Chapter 6: Dear Friend**

Dear friend, I feel so helpless  
I see you sit in silence  
As you face new pain each day  
I feel there's nothing I can do  
I know you don't feel pretty  
Even though you are  
But it wasn't your beauty  
That found room in my heart  
Dear friend, you are so precious  
Dear friend, I'm here for you  
I know that you don't talk too much  
But we can share this day separately  
Dear friend, please don't feel like you're alone.

***  
**Alice's POV**

My family and I were all sitting in the waiting room of the Volturi castle wondering the same thing; what_ is Aro going to do once he finds out about Bella?  
_I already knew what we were going to do, Edward had made up his mind, if Aro wanted to harm Bella we would go to wherever she is and protect her – we were aware that she had left Forks –. And although I'd never want anything bad to happen to Bella, I hoped for just a second that Aro would want to kill her just so I could see her again. Edward nearly ripped off my head when he heard my thoughts, so I quickly buried them.  
I sighed and decided to look at my family's outfits while we waited to be let in. I looked at Rose first **[AN: All outfits on profile]**; she was wearing a summer black short jumpsuit with black stiletto heels and a matching black handbag. She also wore her Cullen crest around her neck. – She gave me a small smile when I looked at her –, next I looked at Emmett – he wore a grey t shirt with black jean shorts, he also had on grey Dunlop sneakers and his family crest around his wrist –, Esme was wearing a black sundress which had tan colored buttons and belt-buckle. She matched her Louis-Vuitton handbag and gladiator high heels with her tan buttons; around her wrist was her Cullen crest. Carlisle sat with Esme's hand in his and he wore a light blue collared polo shirt with tan colored khaki shorts, on his feet he had white and blue sport sneakers and on his finger was his Cullen crest ring; Carlisle reminded me of a professional golf player. I averted my gaze to Edward who was sitting by himself – he was wearing black skinny jeans and a v neck shirt which was also black and had white "HW" letters on it, his shoes were black and grey. On his wrist was his family crest. –, I couldn't help but imagine Bella sitting next to him. His face turned into an expression of pain and depression by my image of happy Bella looking at him lovingly.  
"Alice…" He sobbed, messing up his hair. _Sorry _I thought sadly, I occupied myself by remembering what I had put on this morning, I wore a purple sundress which had blue, pink, black and white small dots scattered over it. The dots made it look multi-colored, my shoes were purple strappy heels and I had on a Pandora bracelet that had purple charms on it. My handbag matched my clothes as well; around my neck was my family crest. I saved the best for last, I turned my attention to Jasper and saw that he was wearing a black collared button-down shirt which had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and he had on light grey faded jeans with black casual shoes. His wrist wore his Cullen crest. Jazz must have felt me staring at him because he looked down at me; I gave him a gentle smile and linked our fingers together. He bent down and kissed my forehead at the same moment that Jane walked through the doors leading out of The Throne Room and over to us.  
"Hello everyone, if you'll please follow me into The Throne Room, Aro will see you now." She said – I saw out of the corner of my eye that Jane gave Edward a venomous glare before looking to the rest of us. _What the…? _I thought but Edward didn't seem to notice anything. _Maybe she's blocking him. _I saw Edward quickly look my way and sigh, _so she is? _He nodded slightly in response. – and with a curt nod she walked off swiftly without waiting for us.

"Ah Carlisle my dear old friend, how are you and your family?" Aro exclaimed once we had entered the room.  
"Very well thank you Aro, and how is everyone here?" Carlisle said gently with a polite smile but we could all see that it didn't reach his eyes.  
"Oh my," Aro whispered when he shook Carlisle's hand, everyone tensed up knowing that he had just seen Carlisle's memories. "A human, Carlisle?".  
"We understand the risk of revealing ourselves to a human Aro, but please believe us. We didn't expose our secret to Bella, she figured it out herself but she had been sworn to secrecy and has no intention of telling anyone about our world." Carlisle quickly explained, fearing that our family's – Bella included – lives were in danger.  
"Is the human still in your life?" Caius asked from behind Aro.  
"No, we left so she wouldn't be involved with the dangers that our world brought." Carlisle told them, wrapping a comforting arm around Esme as she started to sob. I took hold of Edward's hand and squeezed it gently, _don't worry Edward. Nothing's going to happen to her, Bella's safe.  
_"It doesn't matter. She knows of our existence, she must die." Caius said but before any if us could do more than just growl, Aro spoke up.  
"Now now Caius, there's no need to jump ahead of yourself. She's just one human girl, I don't see the harm in waiting to see if she can keep a secret." I let out a sigh of relief because I knew Bella would never tell anyone about our existence, I tensed up again when I saw Aro smiling at us with a mysterious grin. _What's his smile all about? _I thought, directing it to Edward. Out the corner of my eye I saw him shrug ever-so-slightly. _He's blocking you? _I thought in shock, he raised his eyes up and then down just a fraction. _Well that can't be good.  
_"Aro, it is wonderful that you have invited us here but we are all anxious as to what the favor is?" Esme said, her voice thick from emotion of hearing about Bella.  
"Yes of course Esme, my good old friend Albus Dumbledore has asked me to find some non-human blood drinking vampires to help and protect his school. Now Albus' school is not an ordinary one you're used to; it is a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He began explaining.  
"Witchcraft and Wizardry, as in magic?" Emmett voiced the question we had all been thinking.  
"Yes magic, it's located in London and is called Hogwarts. You are needed to protect the school and the students inside of it because an evil powerful wizard is trying to take over their world. If you agree to help Albus then you will need to leave in about a month or two. Mainly you will be wandering around the school halls and grounds to ensure safety but every few weeks a couple of you will be a sort of guardian for 2 particular students, it's just keeping a closer watch on them. You won't be alone there, there'll be one more vampire protecting with you. Her name is Isabella and she is a new born vampire; before that she was a witch, so she is a vital part of the protecting process." We all flinched noticeably when he said the girls name.  
"_Come on Bella! Move faster!_" I heard someone yell, it sounded like it came from the hallway to the left of us. I felt Edward twitch next to me when the voice yelled 'Bella' but I put a restraining hand on him, _it's not your Bella, Edward you can't just go around the Volturi castle looking for a name. _It took a few minutes for him to calm down but when he did I removed my hand and tuned back into what was happening around me.

"Yes of course Carlisle, just come back soon and tell me if you are willing. Alec will show you to your rooms now." Aro was saying, and then waved a hand at Alec as he led us down a corridor.  
"Thank you Alec," Carlisle said and Alec nodded in response "Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Alice please get unpacked and then meet Esme and I in our room. We need to discuss some things." Everyone nodded and said their good-byes. Alec showed Rose and Emmett to their room – which was next to Carlisle and Esme's room –, across the hallway was Edward's and next to his was Jasper and my room.  
Our room was nice and big, on the far wall there was a painting of a red and orange sunset, under the painting was a big queen-size bed with black and silver covers. The walls were painted plain white and on the right wall – from where I stood facing the bed – a black wooden closet was standing next to a big open window, the view was of Volterra and it was a very beautiful sight.  
I walked to the door next to a black bookcase that was filled with novels; opening the closed door I saw that it was a bathroom. I walked back out and turned around; there was a 50 inch silver flat-screen television on the big wall next to the door we came in through. Next to the bed were 2 black bedside tables with a silver lamp on each, next to the left bedside table was a black desk which held a mini white laptop and a small white portable phone.  
Jasper walked over to the bed and put our suitcases on it, I sat down on the black leather couch that was placed at the end of the bed and sighed sadly.  
"I know you miss her Alice," Jasper said sitting next to me and wrapping his hand around mine.  
"I wish I could see her" I sobbed, resting my head on his shoulder.  
"I know, I wish you could see her too." Jazz and I both sighed at the same time, I slowly – for a vampire – stood up and started unpacking my suitcase.  
"We should start putting our things away; Carlisle still needs to speak to us."

"Okay, you all probably know why I wanted this meeting. We need to vote on this protection offer; if the majority is opposed to going then we won't go." Carlisle said as we all sat around the room, their room theme was blue – whereas Jazz's and mine was black –, their queen sized bed had an electric blue comforter on it and their furniture was white. The painting above the bed was of the ocean and their room was arranged exactly as ours had been. "I vote yes, I think it would be a good distraction for us." Carlisle stated.  
"I vote yes" Esme said, probably thinking of all the children in danger, there's no way Esme would not protect children in need of it.  
"I vote yes, there might be a chance of a fight" Emmett said smiling brightly, although the smile didn't reach his eyes and their usual sparkle was gone. Leaving Bella had taken its toll on all of us, I heard Edward groan painfully, _sorry…  
_"I vote no, I don't want to move again" Rosalie said.  
"I vote yes, I'd like the distraction" I said quietly.  
"I go wherever Alice goes, so yes." Jazzy said, I took hold of his hand gently.  
"I don't care where we go." Edward mumbled, everyone looked up when Carlisle sighed.  
"Well it seems that the majority of us have voted yes, is everyone okay with this?" All of us nodded our heads and we heard Rose sigh.  
"Sorry Rose" Esme said giving her a motherly hug, Rose sighed again and mumbled "It's okay".  
"Well I guess I should go tell Aro that we will help." Carlisle said, giving Esme a kiss he walked out of the room. Edward sighed defeated and walked back to his room where he would probably spend most of his time.  
Esme sighed and sat down on the bed, putting her head in her hands. I sat down next to her and put my arm around her waist, she laid her head on my shoulder and sobbed quietly.  
"I just miss her… so much" She sobbed out.  
"I know mom, I miss her too. But maybe Edward will find someone else; he deserves to be happy. We might even see Bella again one day." I could hear Edward growl from his room, _I'm sorry Edward. I know it's not true; I was just trying to make her feel better. _  
"I hope we do see her" Esme whispered, I nodded my head in agreement. I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek before walking out of the room with Jasper trailing behind me.

An hour had passed when someone knocked on our door, this person had a heartbeat. I opened it and saw an old man with long silver hair and a matching long beard; he had small half moon spectacles on his crooked nose. He was wearing a purple… dress?  
"Hello" I said slowly, wondering why a human was wandering around the Volturi castle and why he was knocking on my door.  
"Hello, you are Alice I expect." The strange man said smiling gently at me.  
"Um yes… that's me" I said, _how does he know who I am?_ I mentally asked myself.  
"I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, I am headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; the school you will be protecting." Albus Dumbledore explained.  
"Oh! Professor Dumbledore it's very nice to meet you." I said putting my hand out for him to shake. By this time Jazz had come to see who the human was.  
"It's very nice to meet you as well; but please call me Albus." He said, shaking my hand lightly, he then turned to Jasper and held out his hand. "And you must be Jasper, I am Professor Albus Dumbledore but please call me Albus."  
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Jazz said politely, hesitantly shaking his hand. I placed my hand in Jazzy's free one for reassurance.  
"I'm sorry to come here unannounced but I wanted to say thank you for helping out my school and to explain some of the things that will be required of you."  
"Of course" I said and stepped aside to let him through the threshold. Jasper and I led him over to the couch. "Um, before we start would you like me to ask Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, Esme and Carlisle to come here so you don't have to repeat yourself?" I asked Albus, motioning for him to sit down on the couch.  
"Well, I have already spoken to Carlisle and Esme. But yes, if you could ask Edward, Rosalie and Emmett to come here it would be very helpful." Albus said, smiling brightly at both of us.  
"Certainly, I'll go get them." Jasper said standing up swiftly.  
"Thanks Jazz" I said too fast for Albus' human ears to hear.

A few minutes later, Jasper entered back through the door followed by Emmett, Rosalie and Edward.  
"Hello Rosalie, Emmett and Edward" Albus greeted them all warmly, shaking each hand as he said their names. "I am Albus Dumbledore, but please just call me Albus. I am the headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, if you could all please have a seat I will gladly tell you everything." He got up and pointed towards the couch and bed.  
Rosalie, Emmett and Edward sat down on the couch – with Rose in the middle, Emmett on her left and Edward on her right – while Jasper and I sat on the bed.  
"Okay. First off I would like to say thank you to everyone for agreeing to help." Everyone nodded their heads to say 'it's okay'. "Alright, I will tell you all the same things I told Carlisle and Esme. Firstly, Hogwarts is in need of protection from Lord Voldemort a very powerful and dark wizard who wants to take over our world. Secondly, as Aro told you earlier, there are two students in need of closer protection. Their names are Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Lord Voldemort has been after Harry since Harry was born. It's all a very complicated story but began when a prophecy marked him as Lord Voldemort's equal. Draco Malfoy is in need of protection because he turned away from the dark murderous ways of his family, which makes him be seen as a traitor. Lord Voldemort is after him as well…" I listened intently as Albus told us about what happened to Harry and Draco.  
"When you get to Hogwarts, all you're required to do patrol the school hallways and grounds regularly and keep you're eye out of any danger. I have chosen Alice and Edward to swap back and forth between protecting Harry and Draco; of course Bella will be protecting them also. So we will all have a meeting to organize this." Albus paused in his speech, "Have you met Bella yet?" We all shook our heads and I saw Edward flinch slightly. "Oh, well I would introduce her now but she is training at the moment I believe. All in good time I guess… oh, um any questions?"  
"What will Emmett, Jasper, Carlisle, Esme and myself be doing?" Rose asked.  
"You will be patrolling the school." He explained.  
"What about hunting?" Jasper asked.  
"You won't need to hunt; I can use magic to conjure animal blood for you all. We don't have any forests close enough to the school for you to hunt. The only forest we have contains magical creatures; and their have rights. But you can go in there to explore if you like, students aren't allowed in there though – especially at a time like this – so if you see anyone who isn't a teacher in there, please bring them to me." Albus explained and then after a moments silence, he said. "Any other questions?" We all shook our heads, except Emmett – he nodded his –.  
"We heard that Bella girl training or something, are we going to be doing that?" He asked, excited at a chance of wrestling.  
"Oh, no. The training Bella is doing is learning how to use magic, because she is a vampire her abilities are amplified so she has to learn how to control it. None of you have magical abilities so you can't use magic. Although, it appears Voldemort has recruited some newborn vampires to fight on his side, I have been told that jasper has experience with newborns?" I saw Jazzy flinch but nod solemnly next to me, I squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I was wondering if you'd be able to prepare your family for fighting them." Albus asked and I saw Jazz nod his answer.  
"Excellent. Just one more thing before I leave. At the moment, Feliks from the Volturi guard is teaching Bella how to fight. But when she leaves for Hogwarts, would any of you be interested in training her?"  
"I will!" Emmett exclaimed, jumping up from the couch. Rose sighed and pulled him back down to the lounge.  
"Okay, brilliant! Now I will leave, I look forward to seeing you all soon." Albus said and walked out the door after we had all waved to him.

After 5 minutes of sitting in silence Edward stood up and walked out of the room, toward his. _I hope this trip does us all good_. I thought, looking at his retreating figure.  
After Edward left, Rose and Emmett walked out of Jazz and my room hand in hand after telling us good-bye. I sighed and laid my head back against the pillows, Jasper laid down next to me and I automatically snuggled up to him. He absentmindedly stroked my arm calmly while I thought about the Bella girl who was coming to Hogwarts with us. _Should I go and introduce myself to her?_ I quickly made a decision to go to her room and looked ahead to the future.

***Vision***  
_I saw myself and Jazz walk in front of a door, my hand reached up and knocked on it. The door opened to reveal… Jane?_ Not only did this shock me, but she was glaring at us.  
_"Oh, hello Jane" I heard myself say, "I was wondering if Bella is here? We would like to introduce ourselves to her." I could hear someone sobbing in the background.  
"Alice. Jasper." Jane said with a stiff nod, "Bella doesn't want to see anyone at the moment, please leave." With that she slammed the door in our faces. As I turned to Jasper, I heard a muffled voice coming from inside the room.  
"You could have been nicer Jane." The voice said, it was slightly familiar but so foreign at the same time. It was also thick with emotion.  
It was silent after that, Jazz shrugged his shoulders and led me back to our room by the hand._  
***Vision***

The vision quickly faded and I was sucked into another one.

***Vision***  
_I was walking down the hallway of the guest rooms; I was alone this time. I stopped in front of a black door and knocked slightly on it; there was a moment before anyone answered._  
_"W-Who is it?" Bella asked, her voice was quiet and strangled._  
_"My name is Alice Cullen." I answered through the door, expecting her to open it; but she didn't._  
_"I…Um…I-I'm very busy." She said, I heard her rest her hand on the door. I shifted my feet awkwardly; a habit I had picked up from my best friend._  
_"I won't take up much of your time, I just want to meet you." I said as politely as I could._  
_"I'm sorry, I'm just very… very busy. I-I'm sure we'll meet soon enough." I heard Bella say, I was confused for a moment before I answered."_  
_"Well… okay, good-bye for now Bella."_  
_"G-Good-bye" I hesitated for a few minutes before walking away._  
***Vision***

The vision disappeared from my sight and when I came back into the room, I noticed Jasper was still rubbing soothing circles into my forearm. I shifted myself and pulled him closer to me.  
"What did you see?" Jazz asked, I grinned. I never could hide anything from Jasper.  
"I was looking for the outcome of meeting Bella." I said quietly.  
"Oh, I'll come with you." Jazzy said, I was momentarily distracted by the feel of his arm tightening around my waist.  
"Its okay, I don't think I'm going to introduce myself to her. It seems she doesn't want anything to do with me." I said sadly, _am I really that bad of a person?  
_"It's her loss" Jazz replied simply, I smiled up at him from under my eyelashes. _He always knows exactly what to say_, I leaned up and gave him a quick peck on the lips.  
"I love you Jazzy"  
"I love you Alice"

_**[Author Note: Okay, I'm sorry but I had to stop it there, I didn't want the chapter to go so long. But don't worry there will be more Cullen POV chapters. Review and tell me what you think. Sorry it took me so long to update. xx]**_


	7. Strong Enough

**Chapter 7: Strong Enough**

As I rest against this cold hard wall, will you pass me by?  
Will you criticize me as I sit and cry?  
I had fought so hard and thought that all my battles had been won  
Only to find the war had just begun

Will my weakness fall and now make me suffer for a lifetime?  
Is there any way to be made whole again  
If I be renewed and find forgiveness by the strength I've never had  
Will my scars forever ruin all God's plans?

He took my life into His hands  
And turned it all around  
In my most desperate circumstance, is where I'm finally found.

"Excuse me, Bella?" I turned around from where I was sitting on the laptop, checking my emails and saw Gianna – the human receptionist standing in my doorway. She was wearing a grey knee-length sleeveless dress; it had a popped collar and was a button down, it also tied around the waist. I hadn't seen her since I had been turned – I rarely saw her wandering around the mansion and I didn't get to go out much.

"Yes?" I asked as I crossed my legs and motioned for her to come further into the room.

"Your spells trainer is here, Aro would like you to go to the throne room." I nodded my head and thanked her, I turned back to the computer screen and finished reading the email that Angela had sent me, telling me about how word had spread that I was now living back with my mom, that she wished I had said goodbye, and that she hopes I will come back and visit her soon.

I made my way out of the room I was staying in and walked – at vampire speed to the Throne Room.

"Hello Isabella" Aro greeted as I walked up to where they were seated, I murmured a hello to all three of them and waiting off to the side for my trainer to arrive.

The large doors to my right opened up and I saw Gianna enter with Professor Dumbledore and Tonks behind her.

"Hello Aro, Marcus, Caius. Nice to see you again Bella" Dumbledore said, Tonks followed suit and greeted everyone.

"I'm sure Nymphadora and Bella have a lot to do today, so we'll all talk later." Aro said and motioned for Tonks and myself to leave the room.

"Okay Bella, today we're going to practice using the spells, instead of dodging them." Tonks told me, I nodded my head and pulled out the wand that Mr Ollivander had given me.

"The first spell you're going to learn is called _Stupefy_, all you do is point your wand, and say the word stupefy." Tonks demonstrated the spell and shot red sparks at a dummy on the other side of the room, I hadn't noticed the manikin there before, so I decided that Tonks or Professor Dumbledore had set it up for today's training session.

I tried mimicking Tonks' actions while yelling the word and saw red sparks fly out the end of my wand, but before they reached their target; the sparks evaporated.

"That's okay Bella, just this time, kind of jab your wand a bit."

I did as I was told and was pleased to see the manikin fly backwards when my spell hit it, I repeated this a few times until Tonks told me to stop.

"The next spell is a Disarming spell, with this one; you're supposed to flick your wand like this – and say the word_ Expelliarmus._" I nodded my head and got to work on learning the spell.

"That's enough practicing for now," Tonks announced just after there was a knock at the door, with a flick of her wand, the door opened. A girl that looked to be the same about the same age as me, stepped through the threshold. She was wearing a black cloak that I had seen Tonks wearing earlier.

"Bella, this is Hermione Granger. Hermione, this is Isabella Swan" Hermione and I exchanged a 'hello' and Tonks began to explain that Hermione was here to duel with me.

"Um, are you sure that's a good idea Tonks? I mean, I only _just _learnt the spells." I said nervously.

"We don't have any time to spare Bella, Hermione here is one of the brightest witches of her age, and she'll be your tutor, if you can duel fairly well against her then you're far more along than any of us could have imagined." She said, I nodded my head – fully trusting her although I didn't really believe what Tonks had just told me. Hermione took off her cloak revealing that she was wearing dark blue jeans with a light blue sweater, she gave her wand a swish and I watched as her bushy brown hair was carefully plaited and tied in thin air.

"Okay Bella," Hermione started, "please stand on the other side of the room and when I say go, cast the spell _stupefy _and when I cast them back, dodge them. We'll do this until Tonks tells us to stop"

I nodded my head and walked – at vampire speed, to where Hermione had told me. I turned around to see her recover a shocked look and take her place.

"_Stupefy!_" I said loudly, red sparks flew out of my wand and travelled towards Hermione, she ducked out of the way.

"_Stupefy!_" Hermione yelled back, the spell passed by my left arm and I quickly stepped out of the way. This carried on for about 30 minutes before Tonks told us to stop.

"Bella, can you try and cast spell after spell in vampire speed? I want to see if you would have an advantage that way" I nodded and when Hermione said 'go' I started casting spell after spell – it was so fast that it just looked like there was a red stream coming out of my wand, Hermione dodged one but was then quickly hit by the other curses.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay? I'm so sorry!" I said frantically, running to her side quickly and helping her off the ground.

"Ow, I'm okay, at least we know you have speed on your side" Hermione murmured, and walked a little unevenly to sit on a seat that was placed next to a table with water – obviously for Tonks and Hermione. "Have you taught her the Unforgivable Curses yet?"

"What are the Unforgivable Curses?" I asked, and as I did a chill ran down my spine – they were obviously named Unforgivable Curses for a reason.

"There are three Unforgivable Curses, the Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse and the Killing Curse –"

"Killing Curse…?" I trailed off, shocked. "I can't_ kill_ someone!" I was expecting a lecture on how this was a very serious situation and how I have already been through the hardest thing I will have to go through – the transformation. But Tonks just nodded her head – unlike all the other times where Professor Dumbledore had given me speeches on how I was saving a world and it was normal for me to feel a bit of pressure – although he had made it clear that I wasn't going to be 'fighting' alone. For that, I was grateful.

"I understand that Bella, and so does Professor Dumbledore, he didn't like the idea of you having to give up your whole life for a world you don't know but desperate times call for desperate measures. You really are one of a kind Bella. Now, you don't _have _to use an Unforgivable Curse in the battle, Professor Dumbledore has decided on an alternative curse that you can cast on your attackers, it's a spell that can only be lifted using the wand that cast it." Tonks motioned for Hermione to stand up and walk over to us. "The spell is _Petrificus Totalus, _all you do is point and utter the words. And to take the curse off the wizard, murmur the words _Finite Incantatem._"

I nodded my head and watched as Tonks moved a chair to behind where Hermione was standing and pointed her wand at it, with a few words, I watched as the chair turned into a large pillow that was easily larger than any of us.  
"_Petrificus Totalus!_" Tonks yelled, I saw Hermione go white as snow for a brief minute before turning back normal colour and falling back onto the large pillow. Her arms and legs looked like they were being held together by something but as I looked at Hermione's eyes, I saw that she was just patiently watching the ceiling, as if she was just waiting to be released again. "_Finite Incantatem_"

"See, I'm fine, it won't hurt the person being cursed or anything, I could still breathe and see perfectly fine." Hermione assured me, I murmured an 'okay' and pointed my wand at her, after a reassuring smile from her, I uttered the spell and watched her fall to the pillow again.

"You can let her go now Bella, I think that'll be all for today" Tonks said, when I had taken the curse off Hermione, Tonks turned the pillow back into a chair and set it back down next to the table.

"It was nice to meet you Bella" Hermione said politely as she put her cloak back on, I smiled and said the same to her, when they had both gotten their things, we walked out of the training room and back to where The Throne Room was.

"How was training Bella?" Professor Dumbledore asked as Tonks, Hermione and I entered the room.

"It was fine" I murmured but was cut off by Tonks

"She's going brilliant Professor, she should be up to standard by next week" I didn't like the way she spoke about me, but I chose to keep my mouth shut.

"Excellent excellent," Dumbledore murmured and then spoke directly to me, "We might be requiring you earlier than planned"

"Why?" I asked, when Professor Dumbledore had explained to me that he needed my help, he seemed to be pretty set that it would take me a while to develop my skills properly.

"Lord Voldemort keeps getting stronger and there have been more disappearances… we have sources that have told us Draco Malfoy is in the process of becoming a Death Eater – this must not happen."

I nodded my head, though I wasn't really sure what he was talking about but I hoped it would make more sense when I got there. I felt my stomach jolt with the thought of what I would be doing if I was back in Forks – probably sulking around wandering if _they_ were ever going to come back; or maybe Charlie would have shipped me off to live with Renee, or would I have accepted that _they_ were gone forever and started to move on? I quickly scratched that thought – no, I couldn't see myself ever moving on.

"Isabella?" Aro's voice broke me out of my thoughts, I looked up to where he was seated and waited for him to continue. "It is time for your fight training with Demetri"

I said good-bye to everyone in the room and followed Demetri to the training room.

"Today we are going to practice uneven fighting, so Jane will be here to help today, she should be along soon." Demetri told me, I murmured an okay and waited quietly for Jane to arrive.

"Hello Bella" she said as she walked through the doorway, "have you told her what's happening today?" she continued as she walked over to the benches and set down her hooded cloak that everyone in the guard wore.

"I've only explained what we're doing in physical training." Demetri replied.

"Okay, well because Professor Dumbledore needs you sooner than planned, the first half of training will be physical, the second half will be trying to strengthen your gift." Jane said quickly as she tied up her hair. "Begin"

Without pausing Jane pounced at me and as I dodged her, Demetri came at me and pulled me into a bear hug. I thrashed against him but it was to no avail, I used my newborn strength to stomp on his toe – as he yelled in pain, I elbowed him in the stomach and twirled out of his hold on me.

I spent about an hour of dodging punches and pounces.

I continued to get tips on how to properly fight – in case this Lord Voldemort wizard had recruited Vampires, although Professor Dumbledore had reason to believe that he hasn't. We only stopped training when we were joined by Gianna.

"Excuse me, Bella? Aro would like to see you again in the Throne Room" I nodded and left the room to go see him.

"Ah good, Bella you got my request." I nodded my head slightly and waited for Aro to begin talking again. "As Professor Dumbledore and Nymphadora told you earlier, they may need you sooner than planned. We are just waiting on Professor Dumbledore to get back here; he had to travel to Hogwarts to get Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter." I took a deep breath in and waited for Professor Dumbledore to get back. "Ah Albus, I'm glad you found your way."

"Hello again Aro, I would like you to meet Mister Harry Potter, Miss Hermione Granger and Mister Ronald Weasley" As Professor Dumbledore said this, 3 people who looked about 17 years old stepped forward, one of the boys had glasses and jet black hair – and as he moved his hair out of his eyes, I saw a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt; that must be Harry Potter I decided in my mind. The girl had bushy brown hair which was tied back into a ponytail and she looked about my height. Lastly, the boy – who I assumed was Ronald, had bright orange hair and looked rather gangly, he was also unnaturally pale.

"Nice to meet you, and this is Isabella, she will be helping to protect you while you're at Hogwarts." Aro said, I smiled and said my greeting, Ronald and Harry just stared at me and for a moment I was about to touch my face to check if I had anything there but then remembered what my first reaction had been when I had seen _them _– I had stared uncontrollably as well. I noticed Hermione looking rather annoyed at Ronald, I knew that look. I'd feel like that whenever I saw girls looking at _him _although I knew he only had eyes for me; I don't know how true that was from what has happened the last few months.

After 2 hours of talking, Albus, Hermione, Harry, Ronald and I were interrupted by Tonks coming into the room.

"Hello Professor, Watcher Harry, Hermione, Ron. Hello again Bella" Tonks walked to the lounge where we were seated on in the room I was staying in, as she did, Tonks tripped over the rug on the floor but luckily caught herself before she fell over. I heard Ron – as I had been told to call him, stifle a laugh.

"Are you okay?" I asked, knowing full well that she would be embarrassed.

"Yeah… I'm okay" Tonks murmured quietly, I smiled slightly at her, and told her that I used to be clumsy when I was human.

"You used to be human?" Ron blurted out, earning a smack on the shoulder by Hermione, followed by an _honestly Ronald._

"Yes, I used to be Human before I was a Vampire" I said quietly, though I made sure it was loud enough for them to hear.

"How long ago was that?" Harry asked

"A month or two ago" all of them gaped at me, I knew they probably expected me to be hundreds of years old, maybe thousands.

"Enough chit chat" Tonks murmured, her English accent strong as she turned to Professor Dumbledore. "It has been confirmed Professor, there has been more murders and another break out from Azkaban."

Professor Dumbledore sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, he turned and looked at me from above his half-moon glasses, very seriously and spoke; "Bella, would you be willing to come back to Hogwarts tonight?"

"T-tonight?" I gasped, "But I'm not ready!"

"Hermione here has offered to help you with your magic, and I have arranged for your physical training sessions to continue with a replacement. You will meet him shortly." Dumbledore explained, I calmed down a bit – Professor Dumbledore had seemed to have thought this out.

"And you believe I can do this?" I asked.

"I have every belief that you will succeed" I looked to Harry, Hermione and Ron – they looked a little nervous but seemed to trust what Professor Dumbledore was saying. I nodded my head in agreement that I would go tonight.

"Very well, I will go and get The Cullen's so you all can meet," I froze and didn't hear the rest of what Professor Dumbledore said, _The Cul – No, he didn't say that… Surely there's been a mistake, maybe I'm going crazy. I knew it would happen sometime, don't freak out until you can know for sure. _I occupied my time with the internal banter that I had misheard Professor Dumbledore.

Finally after a few long minutes, Dumbledore re-entered the room; I kept my eyes on the floor but quickly looked up when I couldn't feel the presence of anyone new.

"It seems they have gone hunting, no matter, you will meet them on the morning after your arrival." Professor Dumbledore murmured as he went to go sit back down on the lounge. "You will be trained by one of the members, he was trained by the Military before he was turned into a vampire, and I believe that his age has given him a lot of help in perfecting his skills, he will be the one to help you throughout your stay. The whole coven will help you develop your gift – your mental shield. Aro had a member of the guard do some research and we have found out how to project your shield boundaries." I tried to stay as focused as I could but my mind kept slipping back to _them_ – Military trained vampire, the only vampire I could think of was _his_ brother – _Jasp – No! _I begged myself, _don't bring them up._

"Do you have any questions Bella?" Tonks asked, I looked away from the door where I was a little disappointed that _they_ didn't walk through the threshold.

"No, not really" I replied, clasping my hands together and picking nervously at my fingernails.

"Excellent," Professor Dumbledore said, clapping his hands once and standing up, "I will be back to get you at sunset. That should give you about 5 hours to pack."

"Yes sir" I murmured and stood up along with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Tonks.

Everyone left shortly after and I closed the door to the room I was staying in, walking over to the computer, I used the internet to check what time it would be in Phoenix.

_It's a little late there, but mom shouldn't be asleep yet._ I thought as I walked over to the phone and dialled her home number.

_Ring Ring… Ring Ring… Ring Ring… Ring –_

"Hello?" I heard Renee's voice say on the other end, I sighed thankful that some things still seemed to be normal – but then remembered how she had lied to me my whole life.

"Hi mom" I said quietly, trying to sound cheery, but it sounded fake.

"Bella, Is that you?"  
"Yeah it's me"

"You sound different honey" Renee said cautiously, I paused for a moment, and remembered how I had sounded before I was a vampire, and how different it was now.

"Oh, I think it might just be the connection" I lied, not ready to tell her the truth yet – and definitely not over the phone.

"Oh, fair enough. How are you calling me hun? Phone's don't work at Hogwarts." I cringed, and decided that if I couldn't tell her the whole truth… yet… I could at least just stretch it.

"Well, I haven't actually reached Hogwarts yet, we had to stop off and get some more… students, but I'm arriving tonight." I said, hoping I had fooled her.

"Well I hope you have fun sweetheart. Have you spoken to your father?"

"Not yet, I was going to call him after you." I said, Renee took this as her cue to hang up and we quickly said our goodbyes.

The call to Charlie went similar to Renee's, and soon after I decided to lie down on the bed before I decided to pack my bag; after all, I didn't have much.

**[Author Note: Okay im sorry this took me so long, ive been working heaps. But hopefully ill have more time now to finish the chapters ****]**


	8. Bruised and Scarred

**Chapter 8: Bruised and Scarred**

This was supposed to be the easy part

But breaking down is what I found hard

Now I'm wearing this smile that I don't believe in

Inside, I feel like screaming

He gave me every reason to believe

I'd found the one

But my doubts, somehow

They sold me out

I'm bruised and scarred

Save me from this broken heart

All my love will slowly fade and fall apart without him

Someone please sing this lovesick melody

Call my name if you're afraid

I'm finding out in the hardest way

The consequence of every mistake I've ever made

What's it like to be alone?

I don't wanna know, I don't wanna know.

-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.-

Professor Dumbledore showed up at 4:30pm the next day, giving me enough time for one last training session with Felix and time to say good-bye to the guard. I didn't know whether or not I was supposed to continue training by myself or if I would have to travel back and forth to learn new techniques, no one had told me anything.

"Bella?" I heard Gianna ask, hesitating at my door, I looked up from my book and smiled politely.

"Yes?" she walked in holding a clipboard, I sat up from my laying position and waited for her to say whatever it is she was sent here to tell me.

"Professor Dumbledore is here to collect you, Aro asks that you bring your bags to the Throne room" I nodded in understanding and watched Gianna as she left my room, as she walked away I noticed that she was wearing a black knee length pleated skirt with a grey short-sleeved sweater top, she also wore grey peep-toe heels _[on profile]_.

I grabbed my suitcase and did a last look-over to make sure I had everything that was mine, when I was satisfied I closed the door behind me and made my way to the Throne room.

"Good afternoon Isabella" Aro greeted as I walked over to where he, Caius and Marcus were seated, I politely said hello to them all and waited for Aro to speak. "Professor Dumbledore will be here in a moment, he's just talking to the other coven that will be assisting you at Hogwarts" I nodded my head although I had no clue who this coven was or that they were actually here.

I heard the heartbeat before I saw Dumbledore, so when he walked through the hallway and showed himself – all of us were already expecting him.

"Nice to see you again Bella, I expect you're ready to leave?" Professor Dumbledore asked as he made his way next to me.

"Yeah, I'm all packed" I murmured, looking at my suitcase.

"Brilliant" he said happily.

"It was very nice meeting you Isabella, I hope we meet again soon" Aro said, I smiled politely and listened as Caius and Marcus said things of along the same lines.

"Thank you for letting me stay here," I told them.

"It was our pleasure Isabella"

"Okay, are you ready?" I nodded my head to Dumbledore's question and picked up my suitcase. "Farewell Aro, Caius, Marcus"

"Goodbye Albus" They responded.

"Welcome to Hogwarts" Professor Dumbledore said as we walked up a gravel walkway, I looked up to the building we were making our way towards and saw that it was in fact not a building like normal schools, it was a castle – a real castle.

I gasped out loud and looked wildly around at the scenery, I saw Eagles circling in the sky and other baffling things as we made our way to the entrance of the castle.

"This is the main courtyard," Dumbledore told me, the courtyard was a square stone clearing with a fountain in the middle, around the edges held a covered hallway's with entrances into other places. "My office is located on the top level of the castle, to get into it, you need a password and the statue will take you up. But more about that later." I looked at him, _the statue? _I brushed it off telling myself there would surely be a lot more strange things happening.

"This is the entrance hall," this room was just a type of passing area, there was only 1 seat and it wasn't particularly that big – compared to what I'd seen so far. "And this," Professor Dumbledore announced, walking through a big doorway, "is The Great Hall, where all meals, and meetings are held." The Great Hall was a giant hall that had 4 long tables down the length of it and a shorter table at the front of the room, there were big stain glass windows letting an amazing amount of light in and I also saw that there were candles floating in mid-air but weren't lit. There were also dinner plates set out along all of the tables.

"Dinner will be held in a few minutes, probably about 5pm. I'll get Harry, Hermione and Ron to collect you from my office to show you around the castle a bit – you can sit with them at dinner."

Professor Dumbledore's office was big and looked like 2 rooms connected, the first part of the room looked like a waiting area. It was very spacious and had a round cluttered table in the middle and around the edges of the room there were old golden collectables in glass cabinets.

There were other things scattered throughout the area that I couldn't identify, what caught my eye more than all of these things were the paintings hanging on the walls; they were of women and men. Every now and then I thought I saw the portraits moving but I just brushed it off as my new overactive mind working overtime until one of them moved their arm to scratch their face.

"Did… did that painting just move?" I asked Professor Dumbledore as he ushered me to the other part of his office, we walked up some stairs to get to his desk.

"Yes, all pictures and portraits move in the magical world, you'll grow accustomed to it." As he said this, he took out his wand and made a chair appear out of no-where. I hesitated before sitting on it – fearing that it'd just be a mirage.

Professor Dumbledore wrote on a piece of parchment with a Quill and used his wand again to turn it into a paper aeroplane, he then sent it flying out the door. I stared after the paper wondering if magic had any limits at all.

"If that impresses you, then you're going to have an amazing time here."

About 5 minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in" Dumbledore said and a second later the door opened revealing Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

"You wanted to see us sir?" Harry was the one who spoke, holding up the piece of paper and looking at me every few seconds.

"Yes," Professor Dumbledore murmured, "I was wondering if you 3 could show Bella around a bit and take her to your Common Room before dinner, she'll be staying in the Guest Dorm until further notice."

"Sure Professor" Hermione said and I heard the others agree.

"Wonderful, myself and a couple professor's need to go and collect a few more visitors, we will be back in time to introduce you to the school." He said, directing the last part to me.

"Okay" Harry murmured.

"I'll see you all later" Dumbledore said getting up from his seat, I stood up as well and pulled my suitcase to an upright position.

"This is the Gryffindor Common Room," Hermione announced as we stood in a big room decorated in Red and Gold. There was a fireplace in one corner with couches surrounding it, and I saw that there were also a few tables with lamps on them.

On the walls there were more of the portraits that I'd seen in Professor Dumbledore's office and all over the castles walls – the parts I'd seen anyway.

"Did you want to get changed for dinner?" Hermione asked, I thought for a second then looked at the simple jeans and t-shirt that I was wearing and nodded my head.

I was showed up to the dorms, she took me down the long hall and into the guest room.

"You can have any of the beds – but you don't sleep do you?" I shook my head to her question and waited for her to continue. "I'll wait for you in the Common Room after I finish getting changed." She sad and left the room, I waited a few seconds before I put my bag on the closest bed and started searching for something to wear.

I finally decided on a navy blue high waisted skirt – one of the very few skirts I would ever wear, a plain white singlet and a pair of black lace up shoes. I quickly brushed through my hair and twirled it over my shoulder to make it look neater, I then made my way down to the Common Room to wait for Hermione.

"Bella, this is Ginny Weasley" Hermione said once she had emerged from her dorm, "she's one of my closest friends and is also Ron's sister." I politely said hello to the girl – who looked exactly like Ron and followed them as they left the room.

"Where are Harry and Ron?" I asked curiously as we went up a flight of stairs and started walking along a corridor, I saw Ginny shook me a look – probably thinking I hadn't seen her.

"They'll meet us in The Great Hall for dinner later, we're just going to show you around a little before it starts." Hermione explained.

The castle seemed simple enough to get around, and on the way back to The Great Hall, I already had a good idea of where I was going – thanks to my new memory.

"So how old are you?" Hermione asked me as we sat down at the front of the dining hall. I shyly mumbled that I was 18 years old as I felt everyone in the room staring at me. _It's only because they know you're a vampire. _I kept telling myself, but regardless; I was relieved that my body didn't show when I was blushing.

"I meant, how old are you _really_?" she clarified.

"I'm really 18"

"But that can't be right, if you were a new vampire the smell of everyone's blood would be too much for you!" Hermione exclaimed, I saw Ginny lean back on her seat a little and started feeling really guilty about making them feel so uncomfortable."

"No, Professor Dumbledore gave me a potion so I can't smell magical blood." I said, hoping to make them feel a little better around me.

"Oh," Ginny murmured, visibly relaxing. I felt someone staring at me – I looked around and caught eye with a man sitting at the table furthest from me.

"Who's that?" I asked, directing their attention to the boy with pale skin and hair, he also had grey eyes. Ginny turned around and looked at him, made a noise and faced back around, when the man looked at her, his expression changed from curious to disgust, he moved his eyes back to me – I was just about to smile at him until I saw that he didn't change his facial expressions.

I gave him the best imitation of the glare that I had seen so many times from one of _them, _it must have been convincing because he looked frightened and then glanced away from me.

"That's Draco Malfoy" Ginny said with distain.

"You don't like him?" I asked, looking back – he was now talking to some girl with black hair.

"Malfoy is in Slytherin, which is Gryffindor's arch enemy. So no, we don't like Malfoy and he doesn't like us either" Harry cut in from a few seats next to Hermione.

"That sounds a little ridiculous" I murmured, though too low for anyone to hear.

I looked back to Draco Malfoy, this time with more curiosity than before, _what could make someone dislike someone else so much without actually knowing them?_ I shook my head, baffled and paid attention as I saw Professor Dumbledore stand up.

"Good evening students, first a few announcements. Madam Hooch has asked me to tell her third hour flying class that it is cancelled, and to use that time to study for your classes. Also, the first Hogsmeade weekend is approaching and I would like to remind you all that it is a privilege to go there and if your behaviour reflects badly on the school, then that privilege will be taken away. Before the major announcement, first you all must eat," Dumbledore said, with a wave of his hands, food appeared along every table. I knew that if I were human, the smell would be delicious to me, I could tell by the texture of the dinner that it was good food. But now – in my vampire form and with these abilities, it smelt like dirt and watching everyone eat it was making me feel a little nauseous.

"You're not hungry?" Ron asked as he grabbed a couple pieces of chicken and started eating at a speed I had never seen before.

"No, I don't eat" I explained, distracted by his actions.

"Wow" Ron whispered, only momentarily pausing before starting to swallow food again – almost whole.

"I can't believe I'm related to you" Ginny mused as she cut apart her food and ate it self-consciously, I laughed lightly and felt my eyes prickle with my amusement.

I looked up and saw Hermione staring at me, I was about to ask what she was looking at when she pointed to my eyes with a shocked expression.

"Oh right, my eyes change colour with my emotions – side effect from the potion. What colour are they now?" I asked, wondering what colour amusement is.

"That's so cool, your eyes are yellow!" I nodded my head, thinking to myself that I could look like one of _them. _That thought alone gave me goose bumps, _one of them; Bella Cu- NO BELLA_ I mentally slapped myself and tried to focus on the things happening around me.

"I hope everyone enjoyed their dinner," Professor Dumbledore started, "and now, before you all go off to bed, I would like everyone to meet some new guests we are having stay with us. As you can all tell, the dark lord has risen and is on the move – calm down, calm down everyone" he shushed the students up as worried whispers broke out, "the Hogwarts board and I have decided that some extra protection around here isn't too much to ask for, and so, ladies and gentlemen, I would like you all to meet some old friends of mine. The Cullens." I froze, everything around me happened quickly then but I stayed glued to where I was staring at Dumbledore. _The Cu-. Them. They can't be here_, but surely enough, as I peeled my eyes away and looked at the doors as they swung open; my previous family – the ones that I thought had abandoned me and the ones that I thought I would never see ever again, were walking less than 3 metres from me. I felt my eyes prickle again as I shut everything out, locking out any emotions that I could feel and focusing on breathing – not that I could faint.

"Everyone, I would like you all to meet Doctor Carlisle Cullen, his wife Esme, and their children; Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett and Edward" Hearing all of their names for the first time in 6 months brought back all of the memories that I had kept hidden for fear of never recovering. All of the laughs, the tears, the sweet times and just the casual times.

I must have blocked out Professor Dumbledore speaking because when I tuned in, he was half way through introducing me. "…Swan, Bella will you please stand up?"

I shakily stood up from the seat and looked at the place in front of me as I felt everyone's eyes on me, whispers starting to grow louder as the students assessed _them_ and me. _They're so beautiful…_ one girl said, _they are definitely not human…_ another girl murmured – okay, I guess they didn't already know what we were.

I felt a wave of excitement wash over me in overwhelming amounts, I felt my eyes change as I tried to contain myself. I couldn't help but look over to where I knew the feelings would be coming from, I saw all of _them _staring at me – facial expressions running from Shocked to Ecstatic, I threw Jasper a glare, his gift causing all of my other emotions to be drowned out, and when he caught my eye; he smiled a genuine smile but then nodded over at Alice – telling me that it was her who was feeling the excitement. I saved myself the pain of looking at herand made myself turn back to watching my hands. I tried to reason with myself that I should at least look at _him _once just to know that he was there and that it could be my last chance to see him – but of course, my reasoning side told me that it would be more harmful than helpful, and I kept my eyes down.

Professor Dumbledore went on to explain what we all were and that we wouldn't hurt anyone – but also to take precautions to be safe. After that was finished, Albus dismissed everyone and asked me to meet him in his office first thing in the morning.

I agreed with him and made my way to the Gryffindor Common Room, to spend the rest of my night reading.

It was exactly 10:21pm when my night was turned upside down again, the door to my dorm – that I occupied alone – opened up and I saw Alice Cullen step into the room, I slightly winced from her name sounding in my mind but quickly stood in a crouched position on my bed.

Alice quickly put her hands up in a way to show me that she meant no harm and backed up a little.

"I'm not here to fight" she murmured, her chimes-like voice sounding more charming than ever – I had missed my best friend more than anyone could ever imagine.

"w-well duh" I tried sounding nonchalant but I don't think I fooled her.

"I'm your new roommate!" she exclaimed, as she moved quickly and put her stuff on the bed next to mine, I stared at her for a while before I stood up and ran from the room – hoping that this would just be a bad dream and that I would wake up, and they wouldn't be here to ruin my life with how much they don't want me.


	9. Broken

**Chapter 9: Broken**

I am here still waiting though I still have my doubts.

I am damaged at best, like you've already figured out.

The broken locks were a warning, you got inside my head.

I tried my best to be guarded, I'm an open book instead.

And I still see your reflection inside of my eyes.

That are looking for purpose, they're still looking for life.

I'm hanging on another day.

Just to see what you will throw my way.

And I'm hangin' on to the words you say.

You said that I will, will be okay.

I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing.

With a broken heart that's still beating.

In the pain, there is healing.

In your name, I find meaning.

-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.-

I didn't return to my dorm until morning, telling myself that if I didn't go back now, I would be late to meet with Professor Dumbledore.

I quickly made my way to the Gryffindor common room and was pleased to see that Alice wasn't there when I got to my room. I got the clothes I would be wearing today and went to the showers to take my time getting changed.

I decided to wear a white top that had black thin stripes on it and bubble sleeves, I had brown jeans on with shiny black ballet flats which had a bow on the top of each and tucked my wand into the side of my jeans [on profile]. I ran – at vampire speed, back up to my dorm, this time though, she was there.

"Hi Bella" she smiled, standing up from going through her suitcase.

I paused long enough to let her know that I wasn't going to say anything back before I picked up my silver heart necklace, taking deep; calming breaths and walked out of the room. I made my way back to the shower room to brush my teeth, and when I looked in the mirror, I gasped aloud and dropped my tooth brush in the sink. I leaned closer to get a better look, and indeed, my eyes were white. Completely colourless.

I carried on and cleaned my teeth in a daze, my mind somewhere else completely and made my way down to The Great Hall to pass time until Professor Dumbledore finished his breakfast.

"Come in" Dumbledore's voiced sounded from behind the closed door to his office, I made my way through the waiting area of the room to where his desk was, there were 8 seats placed where mine had been yesterday, I knew who they were for, it was for _them. _"Ah hello Bella, please take a seat, we are just waiting on The Cullen's"

A few moments later, there was another knock at the door, Professor Dumbledore ushered them inside and while they were all making their way over to where I was seated, I looked at them, not in the face but at their form; not trusting myself to look at them in their eyes but I thought it would be rude if I didn't acknowledge their presence at all.

Esme was wearing grey pants with a satin blue and purple top which had a bronze lining down the middle. She was also wearing black leather strappy wedges and of course – her Cullen crest around her wrist. Carlisle was wearing a white collared shirt with a dark blue sweater, he had on khaki pants with tan shoes, and wore his Cullen crest on his finger.

Rosalie had on a pair of tan coloured satin shorts with a brown singlet, over the top of it was a cream midriff top which had brown flowers in beads over it. Her crest necklace was hanging on top of it, she had tan coloured stiletto's that had a black heel. Alice wore a dark grey lace corset-type of top which tied at the front, she also had on a pair of black skinny jeans and ballet flats that had grey lace on them, and her Cullen crest was fastened around her neck as a choker.

Jasper, whom I recognised because he was holding hands with Alice, was wearing a blue button down collared shirt that had the sleeves rolled up, he had a pair of grey jeans on with dark grey shoes that had white lining on the edges. He had his Cullen crest fastened around his wrist. Emmett was wearing a black and white striped V-neck shirt with a pair of black skinny jeans, he also had on black vans shoes which had white lining on it. His Cullen crest was also around his wrist [all on profile].

I knew _he_ was just behind Emmett, in my full vision but I couldn't bring myself to look at him – even if it was only at his clothes.

"Cullen's, this is Bella Swan. Bella, this is Carlisle and his wife Esme, Alice and her husband Jasper, Rosalie and her husband Emmett, and this is Edward" I winced slightly but otherwise gave a tight smile, not looking at them.

"We've already met" Esme was the one who spoke, coming forth to hug me, but I didn't let her.

"When did you meet?" Albus asked, moving around to sit behind his desk.

"We met when Bella was human" Alice explained, and glided over to occupy the seat next to mine, I leaned over in my chair, trying to get as far away from them as I could without drawing too much attention to myself.

"Interesting…" Dumbledore murmured, before changing the subject, "Well, I have called you all here this morning because I wish to discuss your duties. At first, Harry Potter was the only one requiring protection, but as times have changed since I visited all of you, Draco Malfoy is also in need of protection against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

"How come?" Emmett asked

"The Malfoy's are an old family known for their… interest in dark magic, Draco's father is a known death eater, as is his mother, aunt and uncle. They all were expecting for Draco to follow the family's path, but when Draco decided to create a new future for himself, his life was threatened, and he… disgraced his family."

I heard Esme gasp, out of reflex I looked over at her to see if she was okay, she had her hand covering her mouth and was mumbling about why anyone would want to harm children. I caught sight of _him _by accident, he was as beautiful as always, a true god. I stared at him for what felt like centuries, not being able to look away from the topaz-ness of his eyes, being deprived of them for longer than anyone should have to bear. I felt my chest tearing, the pain becoming unbearable and put my arms around myself in an attempt to hold my form together, but I still couldn't look away. I was greatly thankful that I could no longer blush, cry or have an alarming heart rate because I was certain I would be doing all of that.

_I don't want you to come with me… You don't want me? No… Bella you're not good for me… I guess I'll always love you, in a way… How could I be so stupid? How could I believe that someone as magnificent as him would ever want someone as worthless as me? Bella Swan, worthless Bella, stupid Bella, loser Bella; the girl that lost the love of her life and existence because he realised how bad she was, he could do so much better – and he knew it now._ I heard the voice in the back of my mind and as I followed it, I heard the instructions I had to follow_ to_ _be okay again, _it told me. I did what it said and cleared my mind – putting up a wall that blocked out my emotions, when I was finished, there was a weird tingling where the wall was placed, but other than that, I was hollow… a living zombie, again.

"Bella? Hello, Bella?" I heard Professor Dumbledore say.

"Mm?" I mumbled back in response, still remembering my own thoughts but not feeling anything to give an intelligent answer.

"Please try to pay attention, this is important," he said calmly, I gave an apologetic smile and listened as he carried on, "As I was saying, the pairing will be simple, all couples can go together, Bella and Edward, you two will have to be paired up, is that okay?" I felt the emotion running through me and knew I would have been shocked, except that I didn't feel the effects of it, I didn't think I would have to be protecting with _him, _I nodded my head to Professor Dumbledore slowly, wanting to demand that I get to go with someone else, anyone else, but I didn't want to cause a scene.

"Excellent, the pairings may vary due to distractions that can arise with couples. Now, no offense Bella, but because you are still in training, I have decided to assign Draco Malfoy to you, just for a few weeks until you are ready to protect Harry, I'm sorry, I know you gave up your life to protect him but I fear that if you are thrown into it too soon, both Harry and yourself will not benefit from it." I nodded my head in understanding, aware that Professor Dumbledore would know better than I would about this. "With that said, Jasper has volunteered to teach you further fighting techniques, and as you know, Hermione Granger offered to teach you more magic."

"Albus, who will we be protecting?" Carlisle asked,

"Harry of course, but because he doesn't need 3 couples protecting him, when it's not your… shift, I would like to ask you if you could patrol the grounds and explore if you wish."

Soon after Professor Dumbledore sent 2 paper aeroplanes, a few minutes after this, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy arrived.

"Ah, Draco and Harry, good morning. I would like to introduce you to The Cullen's and Bella Swan. As you know, these are dark times, and so, Draco, you are to be protected by Bella and Edward, whereas Harry, you are to be protected by Rosalie and Emmett until further notice. Any questions?"

"No sir" Harry murmured, Professor Dumbledore then dismissed us and I followed Draco out of the room – our protection started now.

"Hello Bella" _he _greeted as we walked to Draco's first lesson, Professor Dumbledore had explained that we weren't required to keep such a close watch on him, but because it was our first day, we had to follow him around to know where he would usually be.

"Hi" I said calmly, my emotions still detached. I made my way to Draco's first class, which was a double Transfiguration lesson with Hufflepuff.

"Class, please say hello to Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen, they will be here to keep an eye on us, please make them feel welcome." The teacher, Professor McGonagall said as she set up her stuff. "Would you two like to tell us something about yourself?"

I stood up from my seat next to Draco and walked to the front of the room, for once not being self-conscious about everyone staring at me.

"Um, my name is Isabella Swan, but I prefer to be called Bella, I am 19 years old and have been a vampire for 7 weeks now, I've only recently found out that I am a witch. I am from Forks, Washington in America."

"Thank you Bella, Edward?"

"My name is Edward Cullen, I'm from America, but my family and I move around a lot to avoid our identities being revealed. I'm currently 110 years old, I was changed in 1918." I listened as the class _oo_-ed and _ahh_-ed over his story, I had to hear all the whispers from the girls behind me talking about how attractive they thought _he _was.

"Wonderful, moving on now" Professor McGonagall carried on to explain what they would be transfiguring today, apparently it was going to be Rabbits into Kettles. While this was happening, I was trying to remove the wall in my mind that was blocking my emotions. Finally 40 minutes into the 2nd part of the lesson, I succeeded in getting my emotions back, I felt the pain, the suffering, the embarrassment, the awkwardness and self-consciousness that I had dodged for the last couple of hours, all together. I braced myself and let the emotions roll over me, sucking me in, when they started to fade, I opened my eyes and started paying attention to what Draco was doing.

He had managed to turn the Rabbit into a Tea Kettle, but was now having trouble turning it back.

"How are you going?" A girl asked Draco, she had shoulder length black hair, held a petite frame but had a negative aura about her. Her eyes were brown and she had a button nose.

"Fine, I can't get the Kettle to turn back into a Rabbit," Draco replied, and as a demonstration he tried to put a spell onto the kettle, it fuzzed a bit but then stayed still and continued looking like a tea kettle. "See"

I moved in my chair and took off the ring that Renee had given me when I first moved to Forks, and started spinning it. The actions must have caused the girl to notice that I was sitting there, she looked at me and gave me a mean look – and turned back to Draco.

There was a faint growl behind me, I knew who it would have been, no one else would be able to growl so low and effectively – it was _him. _I wondered what would have caused him to growl out loud, _it's probably just you, he thought he'd never see you again _a voice said in the back of my mind, making me whimper silently and question if this had been a good idea at all.

"Where are we going now?" I heard _him_ ask, I walked behind them, not really wanting to walk any closer to him.

"The Great Hall, for lunch" Draco explained, at the same time, both men turned around to make sure I was still there, though I knew _he _would know I was. _He probably just wants to see you suffering_, no, he isn't like that, he wouldn't want to see that, I told myself. _But how much do you really know about him?_ That annoying voice in my head murmured, smugly. _I know enough, he didn't lie to me the _whole_ time. _This argument continued for a few more minutes until I realised that I was having a conversation with myself in my own head. _You've officially lost your mind Bella, congratulations._

"How was your first day of… guarding?" Hermione asked, we were now currently sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room, I had just finished my first day of protecting Draco – although we didn't encounter anything, and I finally got some time to just sit down and relax mentally before everyone goes to bed.

"It was alright, Draco doesn't really talk much" I complained, I didn't want my time with him to be awkward.

"I think that's just because you're friends with us, don't take it personally" she explained.

Slowly at around 10pm, everyone started leaving for the night, and it was about 10:30 when Hermione announced that she was getting tired.

"Goodnight" I murmured politely as I watched her get up and stretch, _I wish I could still sleep _I thought bitterly as Hermione climbed the stairs to her dorm.

As the night grew, I decided that it would be a good idea to get a second opinion on what my new gift seemed to be, I got up from my seat on the couch and made my way, following the scents of _them. _

There was a fork in the scent paths, one went right and another went left. I knew which one to follow, there was a familiarisation with a scent that smelled like lilacs and a warm breeze with a honey sweetness to it, the smell of that scent made warmth spread through my body and my mouth water – it was _his_ scent, and without thinking, I followed it.

The moment I saw him, I followed the instructions to detach my emotions again, _this gift could come in useful, _I thought as I approached him.

"Hello" I greeted as I stopped in front of where he was sitting, reading a book.

_He_ quickly shut his book – I saw that he was reading Wuthering Heights, _another thing he lied to me about, he always told me that he didn't like that book and didn't know why I loved reading it so many times, _and stood up, less than a metre away from me.

"Oh, Bella, hello love" he slipped out, I knew that if I had been slower to put up the wall, I would have been on the floor sobbing by now – but instead, I spoke in a monotone.

"Do you know where Carlisle is? I need to speak with him."

"Oh," he mumbled, looking disappointed, _why would he be upset that you weren't here to speak to him directly?_ That voice in my mind muttered bitterly, apparently not being affected by my gift. "He is in the spare office that he shares with Esme, would you like me to show you where it is?"

I nodded my head, not being affected by his presence, Carlisle and Esme's office was located on the 3rd floor, near the end of the castle.

"May I ask what you were wishing to speak to him about?" _He_ asked as we rounded a corner, I waited a moment before replying.

"It's about my gift"

"You have a gift?" he asked, shocked and amazed, _probably only amazed that someone so worthless could possess a power, _stupid voice.

"Yes" I answered shortly.

"What is it?" he asked eagerly.

We were coming up to a doorway now, and I could hear hushed voices inside, with my enhanced hearing, I could recognise that it was Carlisle and Esme.

"I'm not actually sure, I have 2… I think"

"You're amazing" he whispered, though loud enough for me to hear – I ignored it.

"Carlisle?" _he_ called out, a second later, the door opened and revealed my parents, _a mother and father that didn't want to be any part of your life. Shut up_ I demanded of the voice.

"Yes Edward? Oh my, Bella dear, come inside!"

"Thank you Carlisle" I said calmly and walked inside. "I need your opinion on something, my gift actually."

"You have a gift? What sort?" Carlisle asked at once.

"I can detach my emotions, I think. The first time I did it was yesterday, a voice in my mind told me what to do, and then I just did it." I said in a monotone, from the look on Carlisle's face, I could tell that he knew or at least had a good idea that I was using it now.

"That's okay, I've actually heard about this gift very often. It's a temporary one, you see, when you were changed, you were in a broken state weren't you? Because of Edward? – no offense" Carlisle directed the last 2 words to _him,_ I wanted to chance a peek at him but knew that if I diid, I would greatly regret it later. Carlisle then started explaining again, "and because you weren't coping well when you were turned into an immortal your ability to feel numb carried over with you and allowed you the gift of feeling numb whenever you wish to. But as would have happened when you were human, time heals all wounds, and so, when you are healed – the gift will fade and disappear." I sat thinking for a moment, trying to wrap my head around the fact that my gift would soon leave me – _well maybe not so soon._

Soon after Carlisle had told me this, I left, not wanting to feel so hollow – though not brave enough to try and attach my emotions to myself again, while I was around _him. _

I breathed a sigh of relief when I felt the mixture of the emotions I was supposed to feel during my encounter with _them _starting to fade away, glad that I was feeling as normal as I could now.

"Hi Bella" Alice chimed as she bounced into the dorm I was forced to share with her, I looked up and nodded stiffly but continued writing the letter to Renee telling her all about my time at Hogwarts, emphasising on the subjects that I had attended today so she didn't get suspicious that I was here for other reasons. "Are you going to be angry at me for the rest of eternity?" I heard Alice ask suddenly, I stopped writing and looked over to where she was now seated on her bed.

"I don't hate you" I mumbled.

"Certainly seems like it" She argued sadly.

I focused for a moment, trying to detach myself from my emotions so that I would be able to say this calmly, "I don't hate you, I could never. I've just accepted that we're not going to be friends, so please stop talking to me."

"You'll always be _my_ best friend" Alice whispered sadly, I watched her walk out of the dorm slowly, not feeling anything except the hollow-ness. I stared at the door for a couple of minutes, wondering if she would come back before I continued on with my letter to Renee, putting off feeling anything for a while – knowing it would do more harm than good.


	10. I Must Be Dreaming

**Chapter 10: I Must Be Dreaming**

How can I pretend that I don't see  
What you hide so carelessly?  
I saw her bleed  
You heard me breathe  
And I froze inside myself  
And turned away  
I must be dreaming

We all live  
We all die  
That does not begin to justify you

It's not what it seems  
Not what you think  
No I must be dreaming  
It's only in my mind  
Not in real life  
No I must be dreaming

-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.-

_Alice's POV._

It all started with a vision, a vision of Bella – my best friend and my brothers ex-mate.

_I saw myself and my family walking through two large doors that led into a large hall filled with people at tables,_ I recognised the place only because of the man standing at the front of the room – it was Professor Dumbledore. _Esme was the first one to register the scent, it was a vampire smell but also familiar – yet foreign, Edward was a step ahead of us all in recognising it, he whispered Bella's name and shot forward, a blur to every human in the room. I watched him stop just behind Bella Swan, his Bella. The last time I had seen her, she was human, everyone was shocked to say the least, even Rosalie._

"_Bella" Edward murmured, I saw her turn around stiffly, and her breath picked up when they locked eyes, she seemed speechless._

_When she did recover, she started stuttering"Uh... Um.. I... Oh..."._

"_How... What are you doing here? How are you... how are you a vampire?" Edward started frantically saying, I watched as Bella just stared at him, at a loss of words again._

I watched through my own eyes as Edward continued to drill questions into Bella _– the rest of us standing out of it feeling like this was a moment they should have together, every minute I saw her shaking form become more visible. All of a sudden, there was a light blue flash, it kind of looked like an elastic band and stretched out moving through everyone in the room. It only lasted a fraction of a __second but it was enough for everyone to feel the charge of electricity and to send Edward off his feet, he crashed into the brick wall making the room shudder, I saw Bella stand from her seat for a moment before she darted off , passing us on the way, we all stared in astonishment I noticed that her eyes weren't a normal vampire colour... they were Aqua._

The vision ended when she didn't return.

The minute I came back to reality Edward was in front of me, staring in shock.

"What... what was that?" Edward demanded, I knew he wasn't angry with me in particular, but ever since he'd left Bella he'd been having mood swings – worse than usual anyway. "Alice... please"

"You know I can't control it, both my thoughts and my visions" I told him calmly, we had been through this many times before.

"I know." He said shortly, his mind probably still reeling from my vision.

"Would you mind letting all of us _normal_ ones in on the vision?"Emmett asked, once again annoyed that he wasn't in on the secret, I didn't need to be Jasper to know his emotions, they were plain on his face.

Edward didn't seem like he was going to speak, so I did"Bella... she's, um, she's a vampire... and is going to be at Hogwarts when we arrive"Everyone stared at me, dumbfounded– even Rosalie. Slowly, their attention turned to Edward, who's body was still frozen in place.

"Son, how are you feeling about this?" Carlisle asked cautiously, we all knew this was the last thing Edward wanted for Bella, especially now that we weren't there to help her. I heard Edward's low growl and saw him glaring at Rosalie.

"It's true" Rose shrugged, and went back to shaping to fingernails with a filer.

"Cut it out" Esme warned before anything could escalate between them.

I sat down on the couch next to Edward and put my hand in his, comforting him. "Your vision could be wrong, they have been before..." he murmured, hanging onto his last piece of denial that Bella could be safe and human back in her home in Forks.

I shook my head, sadly, "You saw how clear it was, it seemed pretty concrete, I think this one is definitely going to happen."

"It's not!" Edward growled, he stood up swiftly, pulling my hand out of his and spinning around to glare at us. "Bella is human! She's going to have a long and happy life with some human boy and live to see her Grandchildren, that's why we left in the first place!"

He stormed out of the room and we heard the door slam closed, though not hard enough that it would shatter.

Everyone looked to me when we heard his car start up and speed off, I focused myself and concentrated on the future, particularly, on Edward's future.

_I saw Edward walk around the corner of a house, I automatically recognised it as Bella's home in Forks, he easily climbed up the tree that hung over her bedroom window._

_I was in the room with him, figuratively speaking, we both took in the scents that had been in Bella's bedroom, Charlie's being the most recent and Bella's being almost 2 months old. The look on Edward's face was worse than anything I'd ever seen, worse than when he had left her. He pulled himself together though and looked around the place, looking at the empty frames that used to hold photos of them and touching her pillow and everything else. He stopped on a creeky floorboard and bent down to lift it up, I saw him pull out all of the presents and memories of us which he had hidden from Bella when he had first left her. He put them in a box that was laying on the floor and sighed._

The vision ended when Edward positioned himself on the windowsill and with one last broken look he jumped out of the window, away from the house and into his Aston Martin, speeding off carelessly.

I explained everything that had happened in my vision to my family, when I had finished, we all sat in silence – wondering the same thing, _is he coming back?_

"He'll be back tomorrow night, around 8 o'clock." I mumbled, after having checked. Jazz took my hand in his, sending me calming waves and sat still as I leaned my head against his shoulder, he knew how much Edward's pain affected me – especially when it came to Bella, she was my best friend after all, and I had been so happy when he had finally found someone, now she was gone. _Not for long, _I reminded myself, replaying the vision of Bella in my mind until I let it get my hopes up that we'd be back to normal soon.

-.- -.- -.-

_Edward don't do it! _I told him in my mind, we had arrived in Hogwarts and for the first time in a long time, Bella was in the same room as us. Edward had seen her and almost bolted over to beg for her forgiveness.

I quickly relayed the vision that I had seen 2 days ago of Bella running away from us, and a new vision that I had seen about an hour ago, it was blurry, far away and unstable, but there _was _a chance of it coming true, but only if Edward behaved. _Look, Edward, if you bombard her now, she'll never end up forgiving you. She needs time, can't you see how broken up she is, she's absolutely terrified._ I put the vision in the front of my mind again, _Bella smiling lovingly at Edward, her eyes a shade of Light Green –_ which I could only imagine were reflecting what she was feeling, although I didn't know what that was either, _as she stroked his cheek with her fingers,_ something I had seen her do countless times before. _Time, Edward. She needs time. _He reluctantly gave up, but for the first time since he had left her, there was a speck of hope in his eyes.

**[Author Note: I know this chapter is short, but it was brought to my attention that I didn't handle the Cullen's arrival very well – on their part, and so, here we go, the reason behind why they weren't acting themselves.**

**Next chapter will be longer, promise. Any suggestions of what you guys want to happen? I have a rough outline of how it's going to go – for example, there will be a sequel. But I'm not going to give anything else away.]**


	11. Carry On

**Chapter 11: Carry On**

Carry on, with the guise of a sheep in a storm.  
You're a wolf and you're losing the ground that you're on.  
But hey hey, I've got things to say.  
I've lost control of life.  
I don't know how many times I've tried.  
To undo the knot you've tied.  
My face is red, and people change.  
I've changed for good this time.

I just can't handle this, I'm just so scared of it.  
A challenge fit for a woman when I'm just a girl.  
I'm all torn at the seams, just like you said I'd be.  
If this is love, then I don't want a part of it.  
I just can't handle this, I'm just so scared of it.  
A challenge fit for a woman when I'm just a girl.  
I'm all torn at the seams, just like you said I'd be.  
If this is love, then I don't want a part of it.

But hey hey, I've got things to say.  
I've lost control of life.  
I don't know how many times I've tried.  
To undo the knot you've tied.  
My face is red, and people change.  
I've changed for good this time.

-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.-

It took me until after I had finished writing my letter to Renee that I figured I should probably reattach my emotions and face whatever was to come.

Pain. Confusion. Nerves. Hope. Sadness. Scepticism. Lonesome. Afraid. They all hit me like a tsunami, I took a few calming breaths and held onto the corner of my bed to steady myself. The thoughts of what Alice Cullen had said to me came back, _You'll always be my best friend. _I felt my eyes tingle, how dare she mess with my mind like that? What I wouldn't give to have my best friend back... my old life. I shook the last part of my thought from my memory, _I don't want it back, not when they don't want me._

I took another shaky breath and picked up the note, making my way down to the _Owlery_ that Hermione had told me about earlier, I looked at the envelope once more reading Renee's name and her address on it before I walked into the room. The moment I set foot into it, all of the owls started screeching and flapping their wings, shocked beyond belief I dashed out of there and almost knocked someone off their feet.

I made contact with the body for only a half second but it was long enough to notice the warm soft feel of it, I spun around quickly and saw Draco Malfoy standing a few spaces behind me holding his arm, trying to keep the winces from his face.

"Oh my... I'm so sorry!" I murmured frantically, "Are you okay?"

Draco took out his wand and for a moment I thought he was going to throw a curse at me but quickly remembered that spells didn't hurt my new body. And so I stood my ground, but it seemed he was going to curse himself. "Episkey" He muttered, I heard a crack and then Draco was rubbing his arm, his face smooth. "I'll be fine"

"I broke something, didn't I?"I asked, locking my hands together behind my back, I didn't want to hurt him again especially because I was supposed to be protecting him.

He nodded, "It's alright though, easy fix."his British accent swirled around my head and before I could get too wrapped up in it, I tried changing the subject.

"I hope I didn't hurt you too badly," I murmured, "Do the Owl's always react so... wildly when someone tries to send a letter?"

"Um, no" Draco said after a moment's silence.

"Oh, well I don't think they like me very much"I murmured, a bit put out.

"I'm not surprised, it's basic instinct to stay away from dangerous creatures."I lower lip jutted out a little, thinking over the _dangerous creature _part.

"I'm not dangerous, I'm just Bella"I argued, my eyebrows furrowing in frustration.

"They don't know that," he said calmly, "unless you spend your days with animals"he added in a teasing tone, I saw the grey in his eyes spark and I knew that if I was human, my heart would have been hammering away and my face would have flushed. It wasn't the same as when Edward dazzled me, in fact I wasn't dazzled by Draco at all, I was intrigued and drawn to him.

I chuckled lightly and saw Draco's face light up, _so this is what it's like to be beautiful and captivating. _"why, do I intimidate you?"his expression turned hard and defensive.

"No, why would I be intimidated by a girl?"

I was taken aback by his harshness, "I meant because I'm a Vampire" I turned away from him and started to walk down the hall, away from him.

I stopped when I heard his voice, "I didn't," he sighed, "I didn't mean it like that"

"Then how could you have meant it?" I murmured, I slowly walked back to him, turning the letter to Mom in my hands.

"I'm just... I don't know. Nevermind."Draco stammered, struggling to find his words.

I shrugged it off and changed the subject to a more normal and casual one, "Do you think you'd be able to send this letter to my Mother for me? You know... because of the Owls"

"Um," Draco Malfoy started but stopped to look in the direction of foot steps, "Why don't you get your Gryffindor's to do it for you? Draco Malfoy doesn't do favours for anyone."  
I stared at him and waited for the people in Green to leave before I spoke, "How dare you"I glared at him and saw his hard expression falter, my icy gaze enhanced by my vampire looks.

"You're a jerk" I mumbled, though I wasn't sure if he'd heard me or not I turned on my heels and stalked down the hallway, this time I didn't stop when he tried to get my attention.

Back in my dorm room I sat down on my bed, looking at the clock _10:42pm _it flashed, almost 10 hours before I was scheduled to be in Professor Dumbledore's office. I glanced around the room looking for something to entertain me for a couple of hours. I quickly decided that I should probably write a letter to Charlie so that he would know I was safe.

Writing the letter to my dad wasn't particularly a time waster, it only took me 30 minutes to finish it and then I still had almost 9 and a half hours left.

"Hi" I heard someone chime from the doorway, it was Rosalie, next to her stood Alice.

"Hello" I murmured, reading over my letter to my dad before I put it in the envelope addressed to him.

"How have you been, Bella?" She asked casually, taking a seat on Alice's bed.

"You don't have to do this," I told them, turning around on my chair, "I'm okay with just being... acquaintances"

"We're never going to be acquaintances, Bella, don't you see?" Alice murmured, I looked down at my hands and thought over the meaning of her words.

"I can't do this," I muttered, standing up with my letters in my hand. "Leave me alone"I felt my eyes tingle with my frustration and walked away.

"That's not fair!"Alice was in front of me in a second, "We've tried countless times to try and right things with you, but you won't give us the time of day"

I stopped and glared, anger flaring up in me, "You've tried 3 times, Alice, don't give yourself so much credit. And you're the ones that left me, remember? Not the other way around."I pushed past her, still surprised that I actually made her move and walked down the small hallway to the spiral staircase to the common room.

I sat down on the cushions with a book that I had found, I dashed out of the Gryffindor Common Room altogether when I saw Rosalie and Alice descend from dormitories.

"Oh, um, excuse me?"I called to someone who was standing near the _Owlery_, smiling up at something that wasn't there.

"Yes?"The girl said absent-mindedly, she had long pale blonde with pale skin and grey eyes. There was a vacant expression in her face that never really left – as far as I could tell.

"Hi, my name is Bella"I murmured, I went and stood next to her, keeping a safe distance since I didn't want to scare her off but she didn't seem fazed by my proximity.

"Luna, nice to meet you"

"It's nice to meet you, too, Luna."I murmured, "I don't mean to bother you, but I was wondering if you would be able to send these letter for me? The Owl's don't like me..." I trailed off.

"Oh, of course." I sighed with relief and handed her the envelopes, my skin touched hers for the briefest second and I was waiting for her outburst, any normal human would – with the exception of me, but Luna didn't seem to notice or care about the freezing cold temperature of my skin.

"Thank you"

"It's no problem," She told me in her airy voice, I watched her go into the Owlery and tie the letters to an Owl's leg, it flew out the small window. She seemed shocked to see me still standing here when she returned.

"What were you looking at before I interrupted you?"I asked, easily keeping pace with her.

"Oh, I was looking for the Bulbing Blossom, they're kind of like pixies and only show themselves when they wish to. They leave a honey scent wherever they go." I looked around myself cautiously, sniffing the air, I couldn't smell anything except the strong scent of Pine and Sugar wafting from the Owlery and around Luna, I recognised it as the Owl's scents, it didn't appeal to me very much.

"Well there's none here, I can only smell the scent of the Owl's in the Owlery."I wrinkled my nose, the smell becoming more distinct. Even though I couldn't smell Magical Blood – which I was certain that a type of _pixie_ would have, I knew I would still be able to smell the scent of Honey, even if it came from a magical creature.

"Oh, what a useful gift you have,"Luna mused, she looked at me for a minute before she turned down a different hall and walked halfway before she came to a stop, "How about here?"

I stopped next to her and sniffed, I could still smell the faint scent of the Owl's coming off Luna's blue school clothes, I could also smell vampire scent, it was the scent of Pear, Oakmoss and Vinegar. I faintly recognised it but I couldn't place whose it was, either Jasper or Emmett. But apart from that, I could smell the smallest hint of honey.

"Yes," I murmured, sniffing around the spot softly, "Though it's very faint"

Luna walked around, looking at every little crook in the walls and sniffing the air. And in all honesty, it was starting to get a little strange for me to watch.

A little time after I had found the honey scent, Luna explained that she was getting tired and wandered off to her common room.

-.- -.- -.-

"Good Morning, Bella" Professor Dumbledore greeted, I politely told him _Good Morning _in response and took a seat in front of his desk, today there were only 2 chairs.

"We're just waiting on Jasper so we can start"As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. "Come in"

I saw Jasper walk through the threshold and take the seat beside me.

"Excellent, Bella as you remember, you were told that you would still be training here at Hogwarts? Jasper here has kindly agreed to help you in that field."

I quickly looked to Jasper but he wasn't looking at me, he was paying attention to Professor Dumbledore.

Albus dismissed us after explaining the room we would be training in every night from 10 o'clock until 3 o'clock, starting tonight.

I followed Draco around silently, having not forgotten his rudeness when I'd kindly asked him to send my letters.

"I apologise for being rude last night," Draco murmured when we were alone, well as alone as we could be. Edward was walking further behind us. "but you can't protect me if you're angry with me."

I grumbled that I forgave him and carried on walking, being completely aware of my surroundings. I slowed down a little bit and matched my pace so that I was walking behind Draco but in front of Edward.

"Bella?"I quickly looked around to the person calling my name – an automatic reaction, it was Edward, I quickly turned back to original position, pain covered every other emotion in my body. _He's still trying to talk to me? Why? _I fought the urge to detach my emotions, knowing the aftermath would be worse than what I was feeling now. "Bella?" he called again.

"Just answer him" Draco told me, I took a deep breath and slowed down, walking beside Edward.

"Yes?" I whispered, not looking at him at all.

"Can we... Can we talk? I mean, after classes have ended for the day?"He asked, I stopped breathing, _was I ready for this? _

"I'm sorry... I can't"

Edward sighed, it seems he knew what I was going to say before I'd said it, "Then can I ask just one thing?"I nodded my head and waited for him to continue.

"Do you still love me?" I stared, not knowing what to say. Surely I couldn't tell him the truth.

I took another unnecessary breath and shook my head, "I don't know"I left him then, not letting myself have the chance to hear what he would have said next.

The rest of the day passed by sluggishly, and by the time it was 10 o'clock, I was getting eager for the chance to stretch my muscles and have something to distract my mind.

"Being able to block attacks is very important"Jasper murmured to me, as he and I circled each other. He jumped for me and I easily blocked his attack, pinning his arms behind him with one hand. "Your newborn strength gives you an effective advantage" he winced. Automatically, I let go apologising for hurting him but he quickly stopped me.

"Don't apologise, it's good you can hurt another vampire, it means you will do well to hurt someone who isn't as strong and indestructible as us."Jasper showed me a few more blocking technique's before we swapped to angles of fighting.

"Don't just look for the easy target, on my body what do you see as the most effective way of killing me?"I looked at Jasper, with much strength I looked at him as an enemy – someone who would kill me if I didn't destroy him first. His neck. His arms. That was all I could see as the most effective way of destroying Jasper Hale.

"Neck... Arms...?" I turned it in a question, not quite sure if I had gotten it right.

"Right. If you can destroy an enemy's arms, they will have no way of stopping what you do next." Jasper motioned for me to come at him and so I did, I lunged for his neck, getting dangerously close.

We were fighting back and forth for a further hour before something Jasper said stopped me short. "Why won't you forgive Alice?"

"I... well, she left me, Jasper, you all did. It's not something I can forgive and forget easily."I leaned against the nearest wall, looking at my feet.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault. If I had been stronger, we wouldn't have left... you'd still be human."I was shaking my head instantly.

"No, I don't blame you, it's not your fault." I sighed and closed my eyes briefly, "If I hadn't been so clumsy, if I was actually good at being a measly human, you wouldn't have felt the urge and..." I cleared my throat and forced out what I said next, "and E-Edward wouldn't have seen me for what I really was."

I shook off all the negative feelings and lunged at Jasper again, pinning him to the floor, I held him by the throat and got up when he saw that I would have won. The moment he had his feet on the ground, I lunged again but this time he dodged it and pinned my hands behind my back, as much as I tried I couldn't get out of it. I kicked my leg back and made Jasper lose balance for just a second – but it was enough. I pushed him back and heard him hit against the furthest wall.

"You're a very good fighter, Bella, especially for a newborn." I thanked Jasper and looked at the wall clock, _3:24am _it read.

"Looks like we're all done."I mumbled and followed him out the door.

"I'll meet you here again at 10 o'clock tonight." I nodded my head and made my way back to my dorm room, except when I got there Alice, Rosalie and Esme were waiting for me.

**[AN: I'm sorry, I know this chapter is beyond crap. But I really didn't know how to make the whole Edward thing work. I hope i'm doing an alright job though. Let me know what you think :)]**


	12. HELP SAVE THE STORY

I NEED YOUR HELP FOR THIS STORY.

PLEASE!

I have no idea how to make this story work anymore, and I thought that if some of you have any suggestions as how to make it work, I'm completely lost for it!

I know how I want it to go in the long run, like the Sequel and stuff, but I have no idea how to get it there. PLEASE HELP ME!

Send me a message on here, not review. :) xx


	13. In The End

**Chapter 12: In The End.**

I kept everything inside and even though I tried, it all fell apart.  
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when I tried so hard.  
And got so far.  
But in the end  
It doesn't even matter.

I had to fall  
To lose it all  
But in the end  
It doesn't even matter

One thing, I don't know why  
It doesn't even matter how hard you try  
Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme  
To remind myself how  
I tried so hard  
In spite of the way you were mocking me  
Acting like I was part of your property  
Remembering all the times you fought with me  
I'm surprised it got so (far)  
Things aren't the way they were before  
You wouldn't even recognise me anymore

But it all comes back to me  
In the end

I've put my trust in you  
Pushed as far as I can go  
For all this  
There's only one thing you should know  
I've put my trust in you  
Pushed as far as I can go  
For all this  
There's only one thing you should know  
I tried so hard  
And got so far  
But in the end  
It doesn't even matter  
I had to fall  
To lose it all  
But in the end  
It doesn't even matter.

-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.-

"Bella, dear, we need to talk to you" I frowned but nodded, I couldn't be mean to Esme, even if she'd left as well.

"About what?" I asked, going to my suitcase and looking through my clothes.

"You. Us. Everything" she elaborated. I stopped what I was doing but didn't turn around.

"I'm not ready to have that talk" I whispered, feeling my chest painfully tighten.

"Not _that _talk, Bella. That's something you and Edward need to discuss." Alice was the one who spoke now, I turned around keeping my eyes on the floor and sat down on the edge of my bed.

"Well, go on then." I muttered, folding my arms across my chest.

"We wanted to apologise." Esme started.

"It's not entirely your fault, I doubt you could have stopped him making the decision."

"That's true, but we could have postponed it, given him a chance to _really_ think about what he was doing." she whispered, sounding like she resented herself for it.

I shook my head, "That would have just made it worse, besides, he had 6 months to think about it – he never came back." I knew that if I was still human, my eyes would be clouded with tears at this point, but thankfully I couldn't do that anymore.

"He wanted you to be human." I've always known that, it had been the centre of many arguments.

"And look how well that turned out." I muttered, gesturing to myself.

"Give us another chance. Please." Rosalie asked, I twisted my hands together, uncomfortable with the conversation.

"I can't. Not like before at least." I told them.

"Why?" Esme asked, her throat sounding restricted.

"I can't get hurt again, it'll wreck me, forever." I could feel my eyes tingling, and I wiped at them automatically.

"But... But you're my daughter." she murmured softly.

"And you're my mother, but from a distance. I'm sorry, Esme." I said sadly, I hated hurting her, she was so pure.

"I understand, we've wronged you." _Wronged me? Wronging someone would be forgetting something important, not leaving a family member behind to slip into a deep depression and then expect everything to be fine on the off chance that you cross paths again_. I fought to keep my temper under control.

I turned back to my suitcase and searched through for something to wear during classes in a few hours.

"Bella?" Rosalie called.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

I left my clothes again, turning around slightly, "For what?"

I saw her take a step closer to me, cautiously, "For being so horrible to you, I was envious and it was childish."

"That's in the past now, you're already forgiven." I turned back around, hoping that the conversation was over.

"The top you're looking for is in the bottom left corner of your suitcase." Alice told me, I dug through my clothes and pulled out my new light purple pattern top that had a darker shade of purple cardigan attached to it.

"Thanks" I said quietly. I pulled out my brown jeans along with a pair of plain black ballet flats [on profile].

"You know... I meant what I said earlier to you and Rosalie, I can live with just being acquaintances, you guys don't have to try and make things okay. Edward made his choice, you should respect it." As much as it pained me to say what I just had, I knew that if there was any way to make them back off, this would be it.

"You really don't want anything to do with us?" Alice asked, softly.

"It's not that," I murmured, clutching my clothes to me, "Edward made it clear when he left me, I was only a distraction, one that he grew tired of. You should respect his wishes, so that he can move on to someone else – and so I can do the same."

"He told you that?" Rosalie exclaimed, I nodded and bit my lip, my breathing accelerating a little bit. "That... that...!" She seemed at a loss of words, I was confused – hadn't they known?

"_Jerk_!" Alice screeched, now how did _Alice _not know? She can see the future!

"Now, now. This is something Bella and Edward need to talk about, we can't butt into their relationship." I was about to correct Esme that there was no relationship to butt into, but she was calming down Alice and Rosalie – something I was grateful for.

"You're right, Esme. If you'll excuse me, I need to get changed and go to the kitchen, I'm thirsty." I left the room, and made my way to the showers.

"What did you do with it, Malfoy?" I heard angry whispers, I rounded a corner and saw Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy with their wands pointed at each other.

"I didn't touch your precious Marauders Map, Potter. Leave me alone." Draco responded.

"Hey" I muttered, "Stop what ever you're doing." I stood in between them, their wands touching my sides, but I wasn't afraid – spells wouldn't hurt this body.

"I will, when Malfoy gives it back." Harry growled, I looked at Draco and saw him twitch slightly, he couldn't make eye contact with myself or Harry Potter, something that he was trying desperately to cover up.

"Give it back, Draco" I said, I felt like a teacher – I didn't like it.

"I don't have it, Bella." He lied, smoothly but with my improved eye sight, I could pick up his faults.

"I can see that you're lying to me, give it back, now." he rolled his eyes at me and tossed a piece of parchment from his back pocket to Harry, who caught it in mid air.

"Of course she'd be on his side... Supposed to be on mine." I heard him mumble as he stalked away. I growled under my breath at him, I didn't want to be the bad guy.

"What are you doing up to late?" I turned on Harry, trying to sound mature and disapproving.

"I couldn't sleep." He muttered, glaring in the direction of Draco.

"Can you please go back to your common room? It makes it very hard to protect you if you're sneaking around." I tried sounding soft, I think it worked until I saw his eyes rolled back and clutched at his head.

"_Ah!_" Harry exclaimed, trying to cradle his head. _What's happening?_

"Harry?... Harry, what's wrong?" I asked, frantically holding my arms out to him, _what do I do?_

He was breathing hard now, sweat beading on his forehead and neck. "Come on" I murmured to him, slinging his arm over my shoulder, I was shorter than him but could easily support his weight. I could have picked him up but I didn't want him to feel awkward. I followed the sound of a heart beating.

In a few minutes I came to a closed door, I knocked and waited for it to be opened.

"Oh dear, what's happened?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I'm not sure, he just started clutching at his head and groaning in pain."

"Oh, not this again, Potter." Professor McGonagall chastised, moving to the corner of her room and getting a wet cloth. "You know what to do, shut him out." _him? _I thought in shock, _someone was _doing _this to him? _By now, Harry was calming down, his breathing returning to a more natural level.

"Someone... someone _did _that to you?" I managed to gasp out when Harry had calmed down enough to take a migraine potion.

"Voldemort" he groaned, rubbing his forehead, his pained expression faded from his face a few minutes later and I guessed that the potion was taking effect.

"Potter, how many times do we need to remind you that letting Lord Voldemort into your mind is _extremely _dangerous."

"I don't do it on purpose, Professor" Harry yawned.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and studied him for a moment, "I'm going to speak with Professor Snape about starting up your Occlumency sessions again."

Before Harry had time to react, I spoke up, "Occlumency?"

"Harry needs to learn to close his mind, a kind of shield to people wishing to penetrate his mind. Sort of how your gift works if what I've been told is correct, these classes teach him how to do it." I nodded, thinking back to those few training lessons I'd had to help the progression of my shield, it was _slowly _coming along.

Harry went back to his dormitory soon after, complaining that he was tired – it was 4 o'clock, so I wasn't surprised.

I made my way to the girls bathing room to shower and get changed, I put on my clothes for the day and left the rooms. On my way back from the kitchen after getting my fill, I heard a heartbeat and shallow slow breathing – curious, I decided to follow it.

I rounded the corner and saw Draco Malfoy sitting against the wall, he looked up when I stopped in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, raising an eye brow.

"Sitting, obviously." I rolled my eyes and sat next to him, keeping a safe distance.

"I meant, why aren't you sleeping?" I clarified, pulling my knees up and wrapping my arms around them.

"I can't sleep" he sighed.

"Can't you get in trouble for being out of your common room this late?" Draco just nodded, but made no indication of moving.

"Are you alright?" I cautiously asked, seeing his expression, he looked upset and exhausted.

"Yes, I just haven't been sleeping for the last 2 nights."

"Why?"

"You" I don't know if I was supposed to hear it, because he'd spoken so quietly – barely audible, but my vampire abilities had picked it up as if he'd just whispered it casually.

"What did I do?" I asked, my mind automatically going to when I'd stopped him and Harry in that argument about that strange map.

"You didn't do anything, I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm usually very collected and don't get distracted by girls." I sighed and shook my head slowly, I knew what it was about.

"It's because I'm a vampire, Draco. It's my camouflage, you're supposed to feel attracted -" He cut me off though.

"No, it's different to that. I mean, I am attracted to you, but it's something else as well." he looked at me then, watching me in a way that Edward had also done, it made me sad before I realised how good it was to be wanted again.

I didn't know what to say to that, I looked away, not wanting to make eye contact with him.

-.- -.- -.- -.- -.-

It had been 1 hour since I'd left Draco at his common room entry, I still couldn't get our conversation out of my head, it made me feel giddy to think that Draco Malfoy had a crush on me.

"Good morning, Bella." I turned around and saw the same girl that had mailed my letters for me, Luna.

"Oh, hello Luna." I smiled, "How are you today?"

"Very well, thank you, and yourself?" she asked, smiling dazed at me.

"I'm good, thank you for asking" She looked at me for a few seconds, her eyes dashing all around my face.

"Are you okay, Bella?" My eye brows furrowed at her question, _hadn't I just said I was good? _"There are Gabbling Gurts all over your aura, they feed off negative emotions, and so are only seen around people with depression or some other form of emotional trauma." I just kind of stared at Luna for a few minutes, trying to decipher what she'd said.

"So... You're saying I have bugs flying around my body?" I finally asked, looking around myself, I couldn't see anything.

"Oh yes, many of them, not every person has the ability to see them clearly, but you can see their shadow if you truly believe in them."

"Sure sure" I mumbled as a dismissal, we were entering the Great Hall now, and I was somewhat glad that Luna was sitting with her house today, rather than filling my mind with more of her theories._ I'm fine_, I told myself. I checked the large clock at the back of the room, it was 6:23am.

-.- -.- -.- -.- -.-

The next week passed by slowly, eventually Edward stopped trying to talk to me so much, I wasn't sure how I felt about this. I guessed it was for the best, although I knew I would have to talk to him sometime – to tell him exactly what I wanted.

Another thing that became a reoccurring event was how much Draco spoke to me, which became more and more, 2 days after our talk, Draco had told me that he'd gone to Professor Dumbledore and asked him if I could be his only guardian, I was taken aback by this, I was still in training and protecting someone by myself was something completely different to always having someone there as a back up. So after Draco, Professor Dumbledore and I discussed it, I would be Draco's official protector but there would always be someone else close by, in case I couldn't handle if something went wrong, today, it was Emmett.

"Come on, Emmett." I called, I wanted to meet Draco before his first class, and in all honesty, I just wanted to see him... my crush was growing.

"What's the rush, little sis?" he boomed, coming to a halt next to me in a second.

"You're growing slow," I ignored him calling me _little sis_, I had grown accustomed to The Cullen's being here, I've even started talking to them now, telling them all that I've forgiven them for leaving me – everyone except Edward, I wasn't ready to talk to him yet. But I still wasn't on a ground where we could call each other _little sister _or _big brother_, I don't think we could even call each other friends, yet.

"Want to race? We'll see who's slow then!" He challenged, I rolled my eyes at him.

"Maybe next time," I said, walking off through the portrait hole.

"Morning" I smiled, instantly brighter when I saw him.

"Good morning, Bella." Draco smiled back, "Hi" he greeted Emmett.

"Hey" Emmett replied easily.

"What do you have first?" I asked him, falling into a comfortable walk with Emmett dawdling a few paces away.

"History of Magic, with Hufflepuff and then, Potions with Gryffindor." Draco told me, glancing back to make sure Emmett was still behind us, I knew he was though, I could still smell his scent and could tell by how strong it was.

History of Magic was actually pretty interesting, I had been to one class before, and although the teacher – whom was a ghost, always spoke in a monotone and never expressed much interest for what he was saying, it was actually amazing to me to hear about the history of a world I was only just entering.

Potions, on the other hand was completely baffling to me, I had absolutely no idea about what any of the stuff the Professor was talking about, I was glad that Draco seemed to understand enough to help us both – I had started participating in the classes now, learning as much as I could whilst I was here, but thankfully, I wouldn't get homework because I'd be too preoccupied with training.

"After classes finish for the day, the family are going hunting, would you like to come with us?" Emmett asked me, we were now walking with Draco to the Great Hall, it was lunch time.

"I can't, sorry. I'm only allowed to drink the substances that Professor Dumbledore provides for me, drinking anything else would disrupt the potion that keeps me from being able to smell magical blood." I explained to him, low enough so Draco wouldn't hear us, I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable around me.

"Oh, next time then." Emmett relented, seeming disappointed.

"Definitely, I'll wrestle you for the biggest grizzly" I joked, laughing lightly. Smiling inside, _this is how it was always supposed to be._

"You're on!" Emmett boomed, making Draco's heart race only slightly, I saw Emmett smirk a little and chuckle a low single laugh. I shot him a glare, making him stifle it.

I didn't bother staying in the Great Hall for long, I just made my appearance by saying a hello to Harry, Hermione, Ron and Luna.

I smiled good-bye to Draco and made my way away from the horrible smell of food.

I heard him before I saw his face, his heart beat and breathing were almost in sync with his foot steps, he was walking slowly, purposefully.

"There you are" Draco murmured when he rounded the corner and saw me sitting against the corridor wall with a letter in my hands, reading and replying to Renee.

"You were looking for me?" I asked, getting up from the ground. Adding, "How come?" when I saw him nod,

"I wanted to ask you something," he started, "there's the first Hogsmeade weekend on Sunday, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?"

"What's Hogsmeade?" I asked, _I've never heard of that before..._

"It's a village nearby, we're allowed to go there a few times a year." Draco explained.

"What do you do there?"

"Shop, there are coffee shops, or wizardry stores."

"Well, If you go, I'll have to go as well, I go wherever you go, remember?" I answered casually.

"Well, I was sort of hoping that it could be a date..." he trailed off, I saw his cheeks blush with a little colour, I had to remind myself that I was beautiful now, he liked the vampire side of me – not the clumsy Bella that attracted danger like a magnet.

"Oh" I said quickly, so fast that I wasn't sure if he'd heard me.

"It's okay if you don't want to... I know Edward cares about you... It'd be understandable if you preferred... you know, it won't hurt my feelings" He started rambling.

"No, I don't... no" I mumbled, "Sure," I said uneasily, "I'd like to go to Hogsmeade with you."

He smiled a brilliant grin that sent butterflies fluttering into my stomach, I knew that if it were still possible, my face would be an unhealthy shade of red.

"So... Sunday." he finally said, I smiled and nodded, I saw him glance at my teeth, I lightly bit my lip, starting to feel self-conscious and changed the subject.

"Um, do you think you would be able to post this letter for me? The Owls..." I trailed off, seeing him nod in return, taking the letter from my hand. "Thanks" I mumbled, the atmosphere growing awkward.

"So, I'll see you in an hour? For your next class?"

"Of course, Herbology." Draco told me that he would meet me in the Main Courtyard in one hour and said good-bye, followed by a quick wink and walked down the hallway.

The hour passed by fast, I was growing more excited by the second, this was my first date I'd ever had that wasn't with Edward, then my mind began drifting... What would he think? Would he be angry? Would he be happy for me? I shrugged, it shouldn't matter what he thinks.

I forgot everything when I saw Draco sitting on a bench in the courtyard, the excitement taking over again.

"Hi" I said, a smile spreading across my face, for some reason, I wanted to hug him – but I refrained myself.

"Bella," he smiled back, "Shall we?"

"Sure sure" I said casually. I saw Draco looking at me from the corner of my eye as we walked out of the courtyard and down the hill to the Herbology greenhouses, I was about to look back at him when I caught scent of Emmett.

"Thanks for waiting." he grumbled, coming to a halt next to me.

"I thought you wanted a race," I told him.

"Oh, you're on, sis!" he boomed, I quickly shot Draco a smile and told him I'll meet him at the Herbology room and sped off, in front of Emmett.

I won, having my newborn strength allowed me to run faster than him, I watched Emmett smug with my victory and challenged him to a rematch later.

"I beat him" I gloated to Draco, proud of myself.

He looked at me, shocked, and quickly looked at Emmett's size compared to mine, "You did?"

"Yes, He's not as young as he looks, I on the other hand, am." I joked, Emmett lightly pushed me to the side, something that would have broken a few human bones.

"You're going to get your rematch, Bella. And I'm going to win this time." Emmett promised, I rolled my eyes at him.

I spent the rest of Herbology looking over Draco's shoulder and trying to figure out how to do the things we were assigned, all the while, keeping an ear and eye out for any potential danger.

_[Author Note: I hope this chapter is alright, btw VOTE ON MY POLL ON MY PAGE, much love xx]_


	14. Everything About You

**Chapter 13: Everything About You**

You know I've always got your back  
So let me be the one you come running to, running to  
I said it's just a matter of fact  
You just call my name  
I'll be coming through, coming through, I'll get coming

On the other side of the world, it don't matter  
I'll be there in two, I'll be there in two, I'll be there in two  
I still feel it every time  
It's just something that you do  
Now ask me why I want to

Yes, I like the way you smile with your eyes  
Other guys see you but don't realize that it's m-my loving  
There's something about your laugh that it makes me wanna have to  
There's nothing funny so we laugh at n-n-nothing

Every minute's like our last so let's just take it real slow  
Forget about the clock that's tick-tick-ticking  
I still feel it every time  
It's just something that you do  
Now ask me why I want to

-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.-

"Good morning, Bella" I looked up from my book, hearing his heart beat before he'd even spoken.  
"Morning Draco" I smiled, getting up to meet him.  
Draco looked me over once before asking me if I was ready, I was confused for a second before quickly remembering that today was the first Hogsmeade weekend, "I've just got to get changed, and then I'll be ready, where should I meet you?"  
"The main entrance courtyard"  
I took off with a smile, running as fast as my vampire abilities would take me, I didn't pause when I reached the Gryffindor dorms, I flew up the stairs and ignored Rosalie's shocked look at my barge in.  
"What's got you all happy?" Alice asked, although I'm sure she would already know what I had planned for today – and who I was with.  
"Nothing" I smiled, looking through my clothes for my purple flannelette 3/4 shirt, when I'd found it, I put it on quickly over my black tank top, leaving the black jeans that I already had on and kicked off my flip flops to put on a pair of black ballet flats.  
"You're seeing that kid again, aren't you?" Rosalie asked with disgust, I rolled me eyes at her.  
"Well, yes, I do have to protect him"  
"You're taking it a bit too serious, Bella." Rose told me, "you go _everywhere_ with him."  
I rounded on her, "of course I'm going to take it seriously, I was created for this and it's someone's _life_!" I exclaimed.  
Alice took a small step towards me, "someone's life, or _his_ life?" she asked gently, I rolled my eyes again, not answering her.  
I heard Rosalie scoff behind me, "he's a human, there's plenty more of them, it's not like they'll go extinct"  
My mouth dropped open for a second before I regained my composure, "well maybe I'm still sensitive to human life, I was one not too long ago." I muttered and walked past them, out the door.  
"Good one, Rosalie" I heard Alice growl before I walked out of the common room.

"Hi" I smiled at Draco as I approached him, the whole time hearing Alice's words in my head _someone's life, or _his_ life? _I quickly shook off whatever doubts I was having – of course this was about _his_ life, it's my job to protect him, it's just a job.  
"Hey" he said casually, "ready to go now?" I nodded and followed him across the courtyard to the school gates.  
I saw a few metres ahead, Hermione, Ron and Harry were walking.  
"I can't believe Lavender is making me wear this" I heard Ron moan, I heard the clinging of a necklace as he pulled on it.  
"Take it off then" Hermione muttered, so lowly that I almost didn't hear her.  
"I can't, she said it means a lot to her" Ron sighed  
I heard Harry chuckle, "you tosser" he laughed.  
Hermione made a sound of distaste and stalked off, muttering curse words about Lavender Brown. In Hermione's departure, Harry and Ron had slowed down their walking pace, Draco and I were quickly catching up to them.  
"Morning" I said as we slowed down to walk beside them, Draco sighed frustrated, probably annoyed at having to be seen with Gryffindor's, in my short time at Hogwarts, I'd learned something about the houses – although the legendary rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor would have been hard not to pick up eventually.  
I gave Draco a quick reassuring smile before turning to Ron, "what's wrong with Hermione?" I asked, pointing to where she had disappeared, I could still hear her footsteps, faint as she trudged up the hill that was coming.

Ron shrugged, "she's barking mad" is all he said, I waited for a few seconds, expecting him to elaborate but he didn't, he just glared at her retreating back.  
"Is she alwa-" I started to say but stopped when I heard a shrill scream, I moved my head to the direction that I'd heard the scream so fast that to the others, it would have looked like a blur.  
"What was that?" Harry asked, drawing out his wand – as did the others. I pulled mine out of my jean pocket and held it by my side, ready to cast the first spell I thought of if anything unexpected happened.  
I took a tentative step forward, and felt Draco's arm go around my waist, "What are you doing?" he asked me, exasperatedly.  
"Going to see what that noise was." I said calmly, although I already knew what it was – and who had made it.  
It was Harry that spoke next,"What? Are you insane?"  
I rolled my eyes, my vision never leaving the hill, "This is my job, remember?" I told them, then spoke more softly, "I'll be fine, magic can't hurt me." I smiled and pulled away from Draco's grasp, casting a quick glance behind me.  
"Stay with Professor McGonagall" I told them all before speeding off up the hill – I heard a noise of protest but within seconds I was out of their sight and over the hill, watching the seen play out in front of me.

4 floating cloaked figures hovered over the ground , in a semi-circle – as haunting as these creatures were, it was what they were hovering over that caught and held my attention. A girl who I quickly recognised as a girl in Draco's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Pansy Parkinson, lay rigidly on the ground, you could tell that she was trying to move her arms, her legs, anything that would help her get away from the figures over her.  
"I-I can't… too many" I heard the whimper of Hermione next to me, her wand shaking in her hand as a small weak spell tried to explode from the end, but quickly evaporated.  
"What's the spell?" I quickly asked, bringing my wand in front of me.  
"Expecto Patronum" she told me, taking deep breaths, "think happy memories."  
I nodded slowly and thought of the time when I'd first opened my eyes in this life, the relief that the burning pain had ceased, the content that I'd finally found a place where I belong.  
"Expecto Patronum" I murmured, a silver smoke erupted from the end of my wand, the moment my concentration broke, so did the spell.  
I shook my head quickly and tried to think of a different memory – a stronger one. I thought of the first time Edward told me he loved me, the first time he told me that he wanted to spend eternity with me, our first date, the first time in our meadow. I let myself believe all of these memories, believing that we were still in love, in a second, I was filled with elation_, _I smiled as I spoke the incantation quietly.  
I was momentarily surprised when I saw the silver smoke materialise on the tip of my wand again, it slowly took the form of a Mountain Lion and walked slowly, stalking the floating masses. I quickly regained my composure and watched it run around the girl lying on the floor, blocking her off from the dark figures that looked to be sucking all her energy out of her.

Slowly, almost agonisingly slowly, Pansy started to get colour back into her face, her lips started to turn pink again, her skin had a natural blush creeping into her cheeks. I withdrew my wand when the hovering figures had disappeared.  
"My god," I heard a screech from behind me, "My dear, are you alright?" Professor McGonagall raced up, and rushed past Hermione and I to bend down and tend to Pansy.  
"Bella," she said, turning to me quickly, "you did very well," she told me appreciatively, "will you please take Pansy to the hospital wing as fast as you can? She doesn't have much time."  
"Of course" I said at once, bending down to gather the unconscious girl in my arms, I held her cautiously, careful not to harm her fragile limbs and sped off, my feet barely making footprints in the snow.

"My goodness, what happened to her?" A woman I recognized as Madam Pomfrey, the schools nurse, exclaimed as she saw me suddenly appear with Pansy in my arms.  
"I… Um," I stumbled, not knowing how to describe what'd I'd seen.  
"Dementor's attacked her" I heard a velvety voice say behind me, I stiffened but didn't turn around – silently following a pale faced Madam Pomfrey's orders to lay Pansy on the bed.  
"Oh my," she murmured as she looked over Pansy, "Oh my, Oh my" she kept repeating.  
"Are you okay?" I heard Edward whispered, so low that the nurse wouldn't hear, he'd moved next to me and gently touched my shoulder, I flinched as if he'd burned me and took a tentative step away from him, ignoring his question.  
"Will she be okay?" I asked Madam Pomfrey, _had I been too late?_  
"I hope so," she whispered, getting a vile of some substance and putting it into a syringe. Now that I was standing here doing nothing, my mind started wandering back to what I'd been thinking about to make the protection spell work – and what _shape_ it had taken. It could have been coincidence and doesn't mean a thing, but I couldn't shake it from my mind.  
In that split second, I'd let myself believe that Edward still loved me, it had provided the protection that Pansy had needed, but had almost completely destroyed any progress that I'd made. I chanced a quick glance at Edward, I only looked at him for a second before he returned my stare, my eyes cast downwards and I would have blushed if that had been possible. _You are my life now_ Edward's voice said in my mind, I shut my eyes tightly, trying to clear my thoughts.

I breathed a sigh of relief when Madam Pomfrey said that Pansy would be okay, and dismissed us, without another glance at Edward – even when I heard his soft voice calling my name, i took off, I was almost out of the corridor when I suddenly remembered that I'd left Draco and the others alone.  
Sensing my distress, Edward raced to catch up to me, "what's wrong?" he asked me, looking down to my level to see my eyes.  
"Draco. Harry… who's?" I looked up at him questionably, I saw sadness cross over his features before he answered me.  
"They're with Emmett," he whispered, "he's safe."  
I processed this for a few seconds, _they were safe. I haven't failed. _ I gave him a brief smile before walking off back down the hallway, at a slower pace now.

_He's safe? What would Edward have meant by he's safe? _I shook my head for what felt like the hundredth time that evening, I was sitting in the Great Hall, watching everyone else eat, it had been announced that Pansy Parkinson had been attacked by 3 Dementors on her way to Hogsmeade but had survived thanks to Hermione and my Patronuses. If I'd been human my face would have been as red as Gryffindors colours. Instead I distracted myself by obsessing over Edward's words, _does he think I have feelings for Draco as well? Do all the Cullens think I do? _I shook my head again, no that can't be right. I've been nothing but professional towards Draco. Besides, it was too soon after Edward to even think about anyone else.

"Bella," I looked up to see Alice standing awkwardly in front of me, "will you come with me? I'd like to talk to you, privately."  
Without a word, I followed Alice out of the Great Hall and down to the entrance court yard, she stopped in front of the big fountain.  
"Alice, what do y-" I started to say but cut myself off when I heard a sob come from her, she turned around slowly, looking like she was barely holding it together.  
"Be-Bella, please" she whispered, "don't do this." I didn't even have time to ask what she was talking about before she broke down, throwing herself into my arms, her body shaking with dry sobs.  
All I could do was quietly _shh_ her and pat her back, waiting for her to calm down enough to explain.

**[Author Note: I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update! I've had the biggest writers block for this story! I hope this story was up to all your standards. And sorry for the cliffhanger :p hahaha xx]**


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